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This article has a good description on how Ethereum calculates a difficulty level. And, this article mentions that the difficulty is adjusted such that, one block is generated every 12 seconds.

The difficulty dynamically adjusts so that on average one block is produced by the entire network every 12 seconds (ie., 12 s block time).

  1. What is the co-relation between this difficulty adjustment and the value of difficulty in a genesis.json document?
  2. In a private Ethereum network, once set in the genesis.json, does the difficulty level adjust automatically similar to the main network?

genesis.json parameters explained

cogitoergosum
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  • These questions seem to mention that, difficulty level does adjust over time - https://ethereum.stackexchange.com/q/11126/3137 , https://ethereum.stackexchange.com/q/7154/3137 and https://ethereum.stackexchange.com/q/2539/3137 Whereas, this question seems to address difficulty level and hash rate https://ethereum.stackexchange.com/q/11368/3137 I have to now connect the dots to get to the final answer. – cogitoergosum Jan 15 '18 at 23:37

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  1. The genesis.json file determines the starting difficulty- this is used to prevent the first miners from achieving a great portion of the coin. The co-relation is that this value is adjusted overtime according the net's algorithm
  2. Yes, This algorithm is implemented as part of the Ethereum network, private networks function the same as the main network is this aspect
Shane Fontaine
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Tamir
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