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Why can the books lag the chain tip?

BTI's three stages each keep a cursor, and the books can only be written as far as the stages beneath them.

BTI works in three stages, each with its own cursor: the census counts bytes, the claims stage searches every protocol, and the books are written last. The books can never pass the claims or the census, so they trail the tip while a stage catches up. They stood at block 972,499, the tip at 972,503 (as of block 972,500, 2026-10-21 16:12:05 UTC).

Sources #

  1. block.space docs: rankings · block.space/docs/rankings
  2. block.space frontier API (the three tier cursors and the chain tip) · block.space/api/frontier
  3. block.space Sync page: the three tiers, their heights and the latest consensus-hash window · block.space/sync
  4. Blockspace Co. records

Live figures: frontier as of block 972,500, 2026-10-21 16:12:05 UTC. Refreshed hourly.

Updated 2026-10-21 · This page as Markdown

blockspace.wiki is written by Blockspace Co. from its published documents and records and the live data of its own Bitcoin node and indexers. Every page cites its sources; corrections go in the errata.