CBP Bitcoin Mining and Consensus Mechanisms 3

Question 1

What is the target block time for the Bitcoin network?

Accepted Answer

10 minutes

Answer

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

Question 2

How does the Bitcoin network calculate the next difficulty target?

Accepted Answer

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

Answer

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).

Question 3

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

Accepted Answer

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

Answer

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

Question 4

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

Accepted Answer

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

Answer

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.

Question 5

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

Accepted Answer

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

Answer

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.

(CBP) Certified Bitcoin Professional Practice Test

(CBP) Certified Bitcoin Professional Practice Test

CBP Bitcoin Mining and Consensus Mechanisms 3