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Bitcoin Mining and Consensus Mechanisms Flashcards

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Read the first 7 Bitcoin Mining and Consensus Mechanisms flashcards as text

  1. What is the target block time for the Bitcoin network?

    Answer: 10 minutes

    Bitcoin targets a 10-minute average block interval, which the difficulty adjustment algorithm enforces across every 2,016-block epoch.

  2. How does the Bitcoin network calculate the next difficulty target?

    Answer: By comparing the time to mine the last 2,016 blocks against 20,160 minutes

    Every 2,016 blocks, the protocol compares actual elapsed time to the 20,160-minute ideal and adjusts difficulty proportionally (capped at a 4x change).

  3. What is the significance of the coinbase transaction in each Bitcoin block?

    Answer: It is the first transaction that creates new bitcoin and claims block rewards

    The coinbase transaction is a special first transaction in every block that mints new bitcoin as the block subsidy plus claims all transaction fees.

  4. What is a 'stale share' in the context of mining pools?

    Answer: A share submitted for a block that has already been found by the pool or network

    A stale share arrives at the pool server after the relevant block has already been discovered, so it contributes no value to the pool's earnings.

  5. In Proof of Work, what property must the resulting block hash satisfy?

    Answer: It must be less than or equal to the current difficulty target

    A valid block hash must be numerically less than or equal to the difficulty target, which is expressed as a hash with a required number of leading zero bits.

  6. What is the role of the Merkle root stored in a Bitcoin block header?

    Answer: It is a compact cryptographic commitment to all transactions in the block

    The Merkle root is the root hash of a binary Merkle tree built from all transaction IDs, allowing efficient proof that any transaction is included in the block.

  7. Which payout scheme pays miners a fixed amount per valid share regardless of when a block is found?

    Answer: PPS (Pay Per Share)

    PPS pays a fixed, expected-value amount per share submitted, transferring variance risk from the miner to the pool operator.