Why does it take so long for mt.gox to transfer bitcoins?

[dancupid]

Shouldn't it be instant? Isn't that the whole point of bitcoin? I tried to transfer 100 btc about 12 hours ago and they still do not appear on the block chain.

[abracadabra]

Are you talking about in or out of gox?
Into gox I think i need to wait until about 10 confirms or so for the btc to show up. Not sure I've tried transfering btc out of gox.

[tritium]

there was quite a long time between blocks last night which was delaying my deposit (about 50 mins or so between 1 bloack and the next)

[klaus]

there was quite a long time between blocks last night which was delaying my deposit (about 50 mins or so between 1 bloack and the next)

at the moment we're at the end of a 2000 Block cyclus. 47 blocks left in this cyclus. A lot of miners turn of because they get very little bitcoins. The Rest has to work a lot of time for the next 50 btc. average per hour is at 4 at the moment.

so every transaction is very slow the next days (until next difficulty cyclus starts)