Average Block Time
The average number of seconds between new blocks being added to the chain.
Proof-of-work networks aim at a target interval by periodically adjusting mining difficulty, so Bitcoin averages roughly ten minutes per block regardless of how much hardware competes. Proof-of-stake networks such as Ethereum after the 2022 Merge instead run fixed time slots, and the observed interval only lengthens when a proposer misses its slot. The figure is reported in seconds.
How it is computed
total elapsed seconds over the sample window / number of blocks produced in that window
Where it misleads
Target and realized block time are different things, and providers report both under the same label. Proof-of-work block discovery is a memoryless random process, so short samples routinely show intervals far from the target, and a sharp change in hash rate skews the realized average until the next difficulty adjustment corrects it. On fixed-slot proof-of-stake chains the number is nearly constant and therefore carries almost no information beyond missed-slot rates. Most importantly, block time is not settlement time: a fast interval says nothing about how long until a transaction is practically irreversible, which depends on confirmation depth on a probabilistic chain or on an explicit finality rule elsewhere.
Reading a high or a low value
A shorter interval means blocks arrive more frequently and a longer interval means less frequently. Frequency of block production is separate from how long a transaction takes to become difficult to reverse.
Highest values in our coverage
Ordered by the figure alone. This is not a ranking of quality and carries no view.
