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Another stale block has been recorded on Bitcoin’s blockchain, the second one in under a week.
Stale blocks are not rare on Bitcoin’s blockchain, but they usually tend to happen months apart. However, BITMEX Research is reporting that Bitcoin had another stale block today after also having one on Feb 22.
Another Stale Bitcoin Block
BitMEX Research is reporting of a three-second time gap on Bitcoin’s blockchain due to a stale block. The stale block contained 625 transactions which all were included in the next few blocks, so nothing of value was lost.
Bitcoin had a stale block this morning at height 619,141:
* 3 second time gap
* First stale block since 2020-02-22
* No double spends – The stale block contained 625 txns excluded from the competing block, which all made it into the next few blockshttps://t.co/uzJXPLZduO pic.twitter.com/lTn0C6by9S
— BitMEX Research (@BitMEXResearch) February 27, 2020
Stale blocks occur when miners solve the same block at the same time. However, they seem to be happening more frequently. Bitcoin recorded its first stale block since October 2019 on Jan 27 of this year, as BeInCrypto reported. It resulted in a double-spend of $3.
However, since then Bitcoin has recorded two more stale blocks — one on Feb 22 and another yesterday. That means that we’ve had three stale blocks on Bitcoin’s network in under a month, which is surprising. Generally, stale blocks are far rarer.
No Reason to Worry (Hopefully)
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Stale blocks are common on Bitcoin’s network and tend to happen every few months. That being said, there have been more stale blocks than usual this year which has caused some concern. However, such worries should be put to rest as none of these stale blocks resulted in any serious loss of funds. At worst, it resulted in a $3 double-spend on Jan 27. Yet, there is always the possibility larger sums of value could be lost.
The reason for the increase in stale blocks could be because all of Bitcoin’s blocks are now full. Safe to say, ’empty blocks’ are now a relic of the past. Confirmation times have also dropped by some 20% since Q4 2019. Following suit, hash rates on the network continue to break new highs.
So, is there any cause for worry? As of now, Bitcoin’s network definitely remains the most secure network in the entire cryptocurrency industry. If the stale blocks continue to appear with more frequency, however, then we may see more people voicing their concerns about Bitcoin’s security
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