Diff Adjustment (Potential Design/Tradeoffs)

[morphic]

A hybrid algorithm which leaves the current formula unchanged, but makes the curve more symmetric.

Difficulty adjustment at regular time intervals

One observation about diff adjustment. The main issue with the current diff adjustment is its asymmetry and not the algorithm (or specific formula). It quickly adjusts to hash rate increase, but it is disproportionately long to adjust when miners leave. This is because the moment of recalculation depend on block number and the more miners leave, the longer we have to wait. This creates strong incentive to jump in after Diff goes down and jump out after it gets high. As long as we have the ma…