Difficulty and Halving
Bitcoin's difficulty adjustment is perhaps its most underrated feature. If miners suddenly double their computing power, blocks would be found in 5 minutes instead of 10 — so the difficulty automatically doubles to compensate. If half the miners quit, difficulty drops. The system self-regulates perfectly.
Why blocks average 10 minutes and issuance halves every ~4 years; economic and security implications.
The difficulty adjustment guarantees that new Bitcoin are created on a predictable schedule regardless of how much computing power joins or leaves the network. This is the mechanism that enforces the 21 million supply cap.
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