<p>Block mining time <a href="https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Difficulty#How_soon_might_I_expect_to_generate_a_block.3F" rel="nofollow noreferrer">is not fixed</a>. 10 minutes is just average value which is aimed by <a href="https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Difficulty" rel="nofollow noreferrer">difficulty adjustment algorithm</a> to balance two contradicting requirements:</p>

<ol>
<li>low transaction time requires low block mining time.</li>
<li>low probability to mine several different blocks simultaneously requires higher block mining time.</li>
</ol>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-12-26T18:11:24.637Z
2019-12-26T18:11:24.637Z
Denis Rozhnev
<p>By design Bitcoin targets a block interval of 10 minutes. </p>

<p>How does the blockchain benefit from maintaining a bounded block time?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-12-26T11:46:34.497Z
Does this answer your question? [Why was the target block time chosen to be 10 minutes?](https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/1863/why-was-the-target-block-time-chosen-to-be-10-minutes)
Ugam Kamat
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-12-26T12:21:01.657Z
I am more worried about why the time is fixed, not specifically why it is 10 min?
stack acc
<consensus><block-interval>
What is the benefit of having a fixed target block interval?
stack acc
# What is the benefit of having a fixed target block interval?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2019-12-26)

By design Bitcoin targets a block interval of 10 minutes.

How does the blockchain benefit from maintaining a bounded block time?

**Tags:** consensus, block-interval

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Does this answer your question? [Why was the target block time chosen to be 10 minutes?](https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/1863/why-was-the-target-block-time-chosen-to-be-10-minutes)  
> **username_0**: I am more worried about why the time is fixed, not specifically why it is 10 min?  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2019-12-26. Score: 1

Block mining time [is not fixed](https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Difficulty#How_soon_might_I_expect_to_generate_a_block.3F). 10 minutes is just average value which is aimed by [difficulty adjustment algorithm](https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Difficulty) to balance two contradicting requirements:

1. low transaction time requires low block mining time.
2. low probability to mine several different blocks simultaneously requires higher block mining time.


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