Block Time

Block time is the heartbeat of a blockchain: how long, on average, between one block and the next. Bitcoin aims for about ten minutes. Ethereum produces a block roughly every 12 seconds, and some newer chains go much faster.

It shapes how long you wait. A payment isn't settled until it lands in a block, and cautious receivers wait for several more blocks on top before treating it as final. Faster blocks feel snappier, but every chain trades speed against other things, such as how many people can afford to run a node.