<p>The difficulty of the network adjusts in proportion to the hash rate, so that <strong>on average</strong> a block is found every 10 minutes. Of course, it's still a random process, so sometimes blocks are much shorter and sometimes they're much further apart.</p>

<p>As a result, if more hash power gets added to the network, the difficulty has to go up to compensate. Otherwise doubling the hashrate would result in one block per 5 minutes instead of per 10 minutes.</p>

<p>I don't understand where you think there is a contradiction, but feel free to clarify.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-12-09T23:14:37.350Z
2017-12-09T23:14:37.350Z
Pieter Wuille
<p>Reading <a href="https://bitcoin.org/en/faq#how-does-bitcoin-mining-work" rel="nofollow noreferrer">How does mining works</a> and towards the end of the explanation,</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>As more people start to mine, the difficulty of finding valid blocks is automatically increased by the network to ensure that the average time to find a block remains equal to 10 minutes. </p>
</blockquote>

<p>But in <a href="https://bitcoin.org/en/faq#why-do-i-have-to-wait-10-minutes" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Why do I have to wait for confirmation?</a> </p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Each confirmation takes between a few seconds and 90 minutes, with 10 minutes being the average.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Since "finding a block" is "confirmation" of a transaction, the above quotes seam like a contradiction.</p>

<p>The other question is why the difficulty increases when more mining power is available? one would thing the opposite should be true. I must be missing something. Any  explanation for this? Thanks </p>

<bitcoin-core>
confirmation time limit
Fred J.
# confirmation time limit

(Asked by: username_0 on 2017-12-09)

Reading [How does mining works](https://bitcoin.org/en/faq#how-does-bitcoin-mining-work) and towards the end of the explanation,

> As more people start to mine, the difficulty of finding valid blocks is automatically increased by the network to ensure that the average time to find a block remains equal to 10 minutes.

But in [Why do I have to wait for confirmation?](https://bitcoin.org/en/faq#why-do-i-have-to-wait-10-minutes)

> Each confirmation takes between a few seconds and 90 minutes, with 10 minutes being the average.

Since "finding a block" is "confirmation" of a transaction, the above quotes seam like a contradiction.

The other question is why the difficulty increases when more mining power is available? one would thing the opposite should be true. I must be missing something. Any explanation for this? Thanks

**Tags:** bitcoin-core


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2017-12-09. Score: 0 | Accepted answer

The difficulty of the network adjusts in proportion to the hash rate, so that **on average** a block is found every 10 minutes. Of course, it's still a random process, so sometimes blocks are much shorter and sometimes they're much further apart.

As a result, if more hash power gets added to the network, the difficulty has to go up to compensate. Otherwise doubling the hashrate would result in one block per 5 minutes instead of per 10 minutes.

I don't understand where you think there is a contradiction, but feel free to clarify.


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