Bitcoin Network Capacity Analysis – Part 5: Stress Test Analysis

TL;DR (lifted verbatim from their conclusion)

While the stress test had its limitations, the 7.5 hours of data revealed a number interesting takeaways:

> When the network is at or near capacity, transaction confirmation times increases for all categories of fees and transaction values.

> In a scenario where transactions are competing to be included in an upcoming block, it appears a higher fee results in comparably faster confirmation times (as per normal situations).

> Despite significant transaction volume awaiting confirmation, some blocks can go unfilled, highlighting the immense discretionary power of miners. > Five of the top ten miners currently have limits at 750kb, while the remaining five are now in the 900-1,000kb range.

> Lastly, given the lower-than-expected number of blocks generated (30 over 7.5 hour period) and the discrepancies in miners’ hash rates, it appears plausible that one or more miners face an adverse impact on its hashing abilities during periods of network congestion.