<p>Yes and no. Any change to the protocol is possible if and only if &gt; 50% of the active nodes &quot;agree&quot; to it by adopting that protocol change.</p>
<p>Getting everyone to agree is very hard though. For example, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitcoin_Cash" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Bitcoin Cash</a> (BHC) exists as a fork of Bitcoin because of a dispute over increasing the block size. It seems likely such a push to lower the block time would lead to a similar messy debate and ultimately a split.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-05-07T15:00:08.487Z
That’s not true. Why would >50% of active nodes need to agree?
Mike D
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-05-08T16:40:00.137Z
My understanding is that the difficulty level is adjusted every 2 weeks by consensus (I.e. > 50%). It’s adjusted up or down with the goal of keeping the block time at 10 minutes. So if only some nodes wanted to create blocks faster they would create blocks at a lower difficulty level, which would mean they would have a different notion of what a valid block hash is. Part of the network would see those hashes as valid and part would not. The majority rules. The others must fall in line or exist as a fork.
noctonura
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-06-05T20:52:51.623Z
The difficulty is not set by consensus; it is protocol rule. If miners produce blocks that do not follow the protocol's difficulty rule, those blocks are invalid - period. You need a fork of the system to adjust this rule, meaning a separate currency if both the old and new rules remain popular to some.
Pieter Wuille
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-05-06T18:14:25.923Z
2021-05-06T18:14:25.923Z
noctonura
<p>Is it possible in future to reduce the confirmation time of the transactions? Can it somehow be reduced to less than 10 minutes? Can it be made faster?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-02-16T17:04:26.543Z
Related: http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/43700/how-does-the-lightning-network-work-in-simple-terms http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/44416/lightning-network-scaling-alternatives http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/46618/lightning-network-and-lightweight-clients
UTF-8
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-02-16T22:06:34.307Z
You could browse the [Bitcoin Improvement Proposals](https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/README.mediawiki); that's the standard way to suggest innovations.
Nate Eldredge
<block-interval>
Is it possible to reduce the block interval in the future?
Rashul Gupta
# Is it possible to reduce the block interval in the future?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2017-02-16)

Is it possible in future to reduce the confirmation time of the transactions? Can it somehow be reduced to less than 10 minutes? Can it be made faster?

**Tags:** block-interval

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Related: http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/43700/how-does-the-lightning-network-work-in-simple-terms http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/44416/lightning-network-scaling-alternatives http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/46618/lightning-network-and-lightweight-clients  
> **username_2**: You could browse the [Bitcoin Improvement Proposals](https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/README.mediawiki); that's the standard way to suggest innovations.  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2021-05-06. Score: -1

Yes and no. Any change to the protocol is possible if and only if > 50% of the active nodes "agree" to it by adopting that protocol change.

Getting everyone to agree is very hard though. For example, [Bitcoin Cash](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitcoin_Cash) (BHC) exists as a fork of Bitcoin because of a dispute over increasing the block size. It seems likely such a push to lower the block time would lead to a similar messy debate and ultimately a split.

> **Comments:**
> **username_4**: That’s not true. Why would >50% of active nodes need to agree?  
> **username_3**: My understanding is that the difficulty level is adjusted every 2 weeks by consensus (I.e. > 50%). It’s adjusted up or down with the goal of keeping the block time at 10 minutes. So if only some nodes wanted to create blocks faster they would create blocks at a lower difficulty level, which would mean they would have a different notion of what a valid block hash is. Part of the network would see those hashes as valid and part would not. The majority rules. The others must fall in line or exist as a fork.  
> **username_5**: The difficulty is not set by consensus; it is protocol rule. If miners produce blocks that do not follow the protocol's difficulty rule, those blocks are invalid - period. You need a fork of the system to adjust this rule, meaning a separate currency if both the old and new rules remain popular to some.  

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