user64072: The difficulty is adjusted such that a block is generated every 10 minutes.
What would be the consequences to lower the difficulty such that a block is generated every 5 minutes?

user69241: 1) More transactions can be handled in a shorter time.
2) The difficulty would decrease (as you said).
3) More blocks are created -> the size of the blockchain grows faster.
4) The whole 21,000,000 are available earlier because someone would get 12.5 BTC each 5 minutes instead of 10 minutes.

user38618: The most important consequence:
It would increase the orphan rate, which gives big miners more chance to mine (because they run their own ISP, while a miner with 0.1% hashrate of the network probably doesn't), and this leads to centralization.

64072: <p>The difficulty is adjusted such that a block is generated every 10 minutes.</p>

<p>What would be the consequences to lower the difficulty such that a block is generated every 5 minutes?</p>
 69241: <p>1) More transactions can be handled in a shorter time.</p>

<p>2) The difficulty would decrease (as you said).</p>

<p>3) More blocks are created -> the size of the blockchain grows faster.</p>

<p>4) The whole 21,000,000 are available earlier because someone would get 12.5 BTC each 5 minutes instead of 10 minutes.</p>
 38618: <p>The most important consequence:</p>

<p>It would increase the orphan rate, which gives big miners more chance to mine (because they run their own ISP, while a miner with 0.1% hashrate of the network probably doesn't), and this leads to centralization.</p>
