<p>You can enable logging of benchmarks for block validation. If you add <code>debug=bench</code> to your bitcoin.conf file, the time it took to verify each block will be written to the debug.log file and you can look in there.</p>

<p>There aren't any benchmarks for individual transaction verification time.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-05-21T05:24:28.237Z
Sure I can count my own time, but I'm curious about how quickly a really cheap computer (that I don't own) could verify blocks. Like, what about a machine that's affordable for an average person in Venezuela. It would be useful to estimate how much that kind of machine could manage.
B T
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-05-21T04:12:19.567Z
2019-05-21T04:12:19.567Z
Ava Chow
<p>If I have some machine with particular specs in mind (processor/memory/bandwidth), how can I estimate how quickly that node can download and verify transactions? In a quick search I wasn't able to find any numbers for verification speeds run on different machines, so that would be helpful too.</p>

<p><em>I have seen <a href="https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/40824/how-to-calculate-signature-generation-signature-verification-transaction-verif">this question</a>, but my question is more focused.</em></p>

<p>Update:</p>

<p>I found <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/7qerq2/full_node_how_long_does_it_take_to_sync/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">one bit of data about this</a>: a lower bound of verification of last year's blockchain in about 20 days (projected, not tested). This amounts to about 170 transactions per second of verification. </p>

<p>More:
* [<a href="https://twitter.com/erickuhn19/status/1095553655086804993](Eric" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://twitter.com/erickuhn19/status/1095553655086804993](Eric</a> Kuhn) saying transaction verification is the main bottleneck. </p>

<transaction-verification>
How can I calculate/estimate how quickly a machine can verify transactions on the blockchain?
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# How can I calculate/estimate how quickly a machine can verify transactions on the blockchain?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2019-05-20)

If I have some machine with particular specs in mind (processor/memory/bandwidth), how can I estimate how quickly that node can download and verify transactions? In a quick search I wasn't able to find any numbers for verification speeds run on different machines, so that would be helpful too.

*I have seen [this question](https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/40824/how-to-calculate-signature-generation-signature-verification-transaction-verif), but my question is more focused.*

Update:

I found [one bit of data about this](https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/7qerq2/full_node_how_long_does_it_take_to_sync/): a lower bound of verification of last year's blockchain in about 20 days (projected, not tested). This amounts to about 170 transactions per second of verification.

More:
\* [<https://twitter.com/erickuhn19/status/1095553655086804993](Eric> Kuhn) saying transaction verification is the main bottleneck.

**Tags:** transaction-verification


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2019-05-21. Score: 1

You can enable logging of benchmarks for block validation. If you add `debug=bench` to your bitcoin.conf file, the time it took to verify each block will be written to the debug.log file and you can look in there.

There aren't any benchmarks for individual transaction verification time.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Sure I can count my own time, but I'm curious about how quickly a really cheap computer (that I don't own) could verify blocks. Like, what about a machine that's affordable for an average person in Venezuela. It would be useful to estimate how much that kind of machine could manage.  

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