Bitcoin Forum

Anybody explain to me difference between confirmation & block time? 

Recently stumbled upon this thing that stuck in my mind, have asked some of the advance player in the crypto space but they are unable to provide me a satisfying answer. E.g. Ethereum has an average of 10 ~ 13 seconds of block time, does that means that it is 10 ~ 13 per confirmation?

Block time : Interval time of each mined/generated blocks

Confirmation : Total blocks mined since blocks which contain your transaction mined


No, that means an transaction will get a confirmation after 10 - 13 seconds.

Block time is the expected time interval between two blocks. Whereas Confirmation means the number of blocks that have been mined after the block that contains your transaction. I hope this is simple enough for you to understand.

I think I understood his mess. When a transaction is said to be confirmed, each block mined after the block containing the transaction, it gains a new confirmation.

For this reason it is said that it takes an average of 10 minutes to obtain a confirmation (in Bitcoin), because it is the average time between two blocks to be mined.

What is it mean for "Two block" mined?

Let's say bitcoin has a block time of 10minute, so what is the confirmation?

This means it is the average time it needs for a new block to be mined.
For example: If a block has been mined right now, you can expect the next block to be mined in 10 minutes (on average) -> Time between 2 blocks being mined.




The transaction gets the first confirmation when it will be included into the block.
This could be the next, the after next, or the 40th block from now on.

Once it is included into a block. Each block which builds upon, adds 1 confirmation to the transaction.


For example:
Currently are 80 blocks mined. You broadcast the transaction. It takes roughly 3 hours for it to confirm. Your transaction is being included into block #101.
It now has 1 confirmation.
Then, 60 minutes later, 6 new blocks have been generated -> we are at block #107 now. -> Your transaction has 6 more confirmations -> 7 confirmations in total.


On average(!) you get a new confirmation each 10 minutes (after the first one) because the average block time is 10 minutes.

hmm.. pardon me , I'm very confused. Do you have videos or pictures to show? I try to find on internet but apparently most of them are so difficult for me to understand..

This site demonstrates how blockchain works visually (with videos), maybe it will be easier for you to understand how the blocks issue works.

https://anders.com/blockchain/

I've seen before with this. Maybe can you explain in Ethereum form? let's say the average block time are 10 ~ 13 seconds. per confirmation will be 10 ~ 13 seconds as well right?

I think you are confused between different confirmations; there is a difference between a confirmation for a transaction and a confirmation for a mined block. Same process for Ethereum and every other altcoins with different average times.
The explanation above is pretty clear.

Once your transaction is included in a block and it is mined, yes, every 10 ~ 13 seconds (on average) your transaction will receive a confirmation because this is the average mining time of 2 ethereum blocks.

What exactly does confuse you?

Try to explain what you understood, and we will be better able to identify the missing puzzle.




This applies to (almost) every cryptocurrency:

This answer from quora is helpful and in detail.