JackTheMimic's avatar
JackTheMimic 9 hours ago
The difficulty can only reduce by a certain amount, I believe three quarters. But even with that reduction in difficulty, we're still talking a crazy amount of hash power and blocks that would be continuously going for 2016 blocks NOT two weeks. It might take several years or 2016 blocks to come around with this kind of hash power. Maybe decades, maybe centuries.

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Ah that makes sense. 2016 blocks averages two weeks under normal circumstances, so it’s block-based rather than calendar-time based. Got it. Looked into it a bit and it sounds like cumulative proof of work, rather than simply chain length, determines the “correct” chain as well. Reaching that difficulty adjustment is a pretty large barrier. Has been interesting, scary to think of how it would economically affect people if one side ultimately lost and that many blocks were no longer recognized by the other chain. Still want to stack sats, also curious to see how everything unfolds. I feel like I’m stuck in Bitcoin limbo.