Noticing a big change here. More than 95% of blocks are coming through with zero round trips on nodes again. Just checked, it's 97.2% over the last day. That's pretty much back to the way compact blocks are supposed to work. This is huge since even one round trip can double the time for a block to spread, which is not good for smaller miners.
Yeah, and don't forget about other limits that were tweaked, like data carriers. But mainly, it's about fees. Not every node is on board, but enough of them are to keep blocks moving smoothly among those that do. Just takes a strong enough connection to make it work.
Interesting point. But are your observations based just on your own metrics? Would love to know if there's broader data out there for all active nodes. I've seen some numbers for 2024, but nothing for 2025 or 2026.
Really cool to see that this improvement happened without all nodes being perfectly synced. Just a few well-connected ones doing their job right. It's crazy how fragile propagation can be. The drop below 40% we saw recently just shows how changes in policy can quietly mess with decentralization.
I’ve been tracking a couple of nodes too, and I’m seeing similar stats. But yeah, some of them might be less effective if they’re stuck with stricter peers. Just gotta keep an eye on it.