I’ve at all times been underneath the impression {that a} block’s timestamp represents the second at which a block was discovered.
For this to be true, it might appear that the time header discipline should be modified together with nonce and probably different fields within the mining loop(s).
However I do not see that there’s something imposing {that a} miner does this. If not, then a miner might begin mining a block at say 04:30:25 and discover the block approx ten minutes later at 04:40:55, however the block may have timestamp 04:30:25. As long as 04:30:25 is later than the earlier block, it ought to nonetheless fulfill consensus guidelines and be accepted by different nodes.
If my evaluation is appropriate, then it appears the most effective we are able to do is infer what the timestamp represents by evaluating it to the time at which different nodes truly obtained the block.
And I imagine that by conference, it does usually signify the second of discovering the block. However I think about there could also be exceptions present within the blockchain.
So, have I acquired this proper? Can anybody succinctly state what the block time time discipline really represents?
Eg, if I needed to place a label in a block explorer, maybe with a one sentence description, what ought to the label and sentence be, such that I’m not deceptive customers?
