The top 20 are the ones that are the backbone, many of the backup witnesses only sign a block every 1-3 days, where top 20 are signing every minute.
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The top 20 are the ones that are the backbone, many of the backup witnesses only sign a block every 1-3 days, where top 20 are signing every minute.
But it sounds like the non-top 20 don't have the option to sign a block every 1-3 minutes unless I'm misunderstanding. If more witnesses were guaranteed a block, rather than having to wait for a random one then they too could sign a block more often couldn't they?
No, they won't sign as often, that's the point. They are backups. The consensus witnesses need to be the most trusted. If every witness signed as often, it would be really easy to sybil attack the chain.
OK. Makes sense. But couldn't other witnesses become consensus witnesses over time as they prove their trusworthiness and thus increase decentralisation. 20 seems a small number from a dentralised perspective.
If you add more, you slow down the chain, although the recent one block feature helps this a lot, but increasing it also increases risks.
Interesting. Thanks for answering my questions.