Block Propagation Race

Experimental

Measures first-seen time for each new block on two independent Bitcoin nodes — Andreas (Node #1, Nuremberg, Germany) and Adam (Node #4, Falkenstein, Germany). Each node runs a watcher that monitors debug.log and records the exact timestamp (millisecond precision) the moment a new block hash appears. The diff shows which node sees a block first and by how many milliseconds. Tracking started from block –; data accumulates with every new block. See Node Details for live operational status of all nodes.

Andreas · Node #1

Location Nuremberg, DE · 1 Gbit/s

Version –

Peers

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Adam · Node #4

Location Falkenstein, DE · 1 Gbit/s

Version –

Peers

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Race Statistics

Blocks tracked – since –

Andreas first – –

Adam first – –

Tie –

Avg diff – ms (Adam − Andreas)

Range – ms

Diff Chart (Adam − Andreas, ms)

Y-axis: ms (Adam − Andreas) · X-axis: block height

Andreas faster (diff > 0) Adam faster (diff < 0)

Showing only blocks where |diff| ≤ 2 000 ms. Outliers above this threshold are likely measurement artifacts caused by temporary server load delaying the debug.log watcher, not actual network latency.

A 2021 measurement study found Bitcoin’s median block propagation to be ~454 ms with a mean of ~4.1 s and a long tail (5 % of nodes receive blocks after >15 s). This is a substantial improvement over 2013, when the mean was ~12.6 s (Decker & Wattenhofer, 2013), largely thanks to compact blocks and relay networks (Fechner et al., ACM SAC 2022).

Block-by-block results

Height	Time (UTC)	Andreas (ms)	Adam (ms)	Diff (ms)	Winner
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