Difficulty Adjustment
Definition
Difficulty adjustment is a blockchain mechanism that automatically recalibrates mining difficulty to maintain consistent block times regardless of network hashrate changes. As more miners join, difficulty increases; as they leave, it decreases.
Technical Explanation
Mining difficulty determines how hard finding a valid block hash is. In proof-of-work, miners must find hashes below a target value—lower targets mean higher difficulty. Bitcoin adjusts every 2016 blocks (~2 weeks) to target 10-minute blocks.
The algorithm compares actual time to expected time: if blocks came too fast, difficulty rises; too slow, it drops. This creates a negative feedback loop that stabilizes block production regardless of computational power fluctuations.
SynX Relevance
SynX uses hybrid CPU-friendly mining with adaptive difficulty adjustment. The algorithm ensures fair block times even as network participation varies. Argon2 memory-hardness prevents ASIC-driven hashrate spikes from destabilizing the network.
Frequently Asked Questions
- How often does SynX adjust difficulty?
- Difficulty adjusts dynamically based on recent block times for responsive adaptation.
- Why is difficulty adjustment important?
- It maintains consistent block production and prevents inflation spikes from sudden hashrate changes.
- Can difficulty ever decrease?
- Yes—if miners leave and blocks slow down, difficulty drops to maintain target block times.
Fair mining with stable blocks. Mine SynX