Block creation times on the layer-1 blockchain Algorand have been cut by roughly 20% after a newly implemented protocol update, with average block times now averaging below three seconds.
In a Jan. 17 X (Twitter) post, the Algorand Foundation announced that the update — called Dynamic round times or Dynamic Lambda — had gone live, touting higher throughput and increased network performance.
Block time data from Grafana shows the average block interval time dropped below three seconds and has hovered around 2.9 seconds per block since the update. In comparison, Ethereum block times average around 12 seconds.
Before the update, blocks were created at an average rate of around 3.3 seconds.
Algorand (ALGO) — the blockchain’s coin of the same name — is trading at $0.189 and is down nearly 4.5% in the past 24 hours and 3.7% over the past month, per Cointelegraph Markets Pro data.
Algorand described dynamic lambda, first voted into the network on Jan. 10, as an algorithm that adjusts block finality “based on network congestion and other factors,” which it claims will enable a drop in average times, better scalability and faster confirmations.
“Think of it like this — you’re at a bus stop, and instead of adhering to a rigid timetable, the bus adjusts its departure time based on the number of passengers waiting,” it explained.
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It also shared its chess-themed roadmap for this year, showing plans to support the Python programming language, transition to using more non-archival relay nodes, upgrade its consensus mechanism and shift to a peer-to-peer gossip network similar to Bitcoin.
Dynamic Round Times (aka Dynamic Lambda)
— Algorand Foundation (@AlgoFoundation) January 17, 2024
This protocol upgrade, which went into effect today, will increase network performance, meaning higher throughput and lower block times.
Block times will now average less than three seconds. pic.twitter.com/GalJbtc74U
Algorand was originally launched to bust the “blockchain trilemma” claim, which says a blockchain is limited to choosing two out of three focuses — security, scalability, or decentralization.
The blockchain is home to hundreds of projects including the nonfungible token (NFT) token marketplace of global soccer body FIFA and an Italy-based digital banking and insurance market platform.
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