# Astar Substrate Block time Methodology

## 1. Overview

Block time measures the average duration required for a new block to be appended to the Astar Substrate blockchain. This metric serves as a key indicator of network latency, throughput capacity, and the frequency at which the global state is updated. It is calculated by determining the time elapsed between successive block timestamps across the network.

## 2. Data sources

- **Blockchain events**: Raw block metadata including block numbers and timestamps from the Astar Substrate network, covering Astar
- **External data**: Asset metadata for chain and product identification

## 3. Step-by-step calculation

### Component A: Astar Substrate block metadata extraction

- **Purpose**: To retrieve the foundational sequence and timing data for the network.
- **Logic**: Block numbers and their corresponding timestamps are extracted from the raw block data. The genesis block (block height 0) is filtered out to prevent calculation errors associated with the start of the Unix epoch. Values are cast to standardized integer and timestamp formats.
- **Key fields**: `block_number`, `block_timestamp`

### Component B: Block interval calculation

- **Purpose**: To determine the specific duration between individual blocks.
- **Logic**: Blocks are ordered chronologically by their block number. A lag function is applied to compare the timestamp of each block with the timestamp of the block immediately preceding it. The difference between these two values is calculated with millisecond precision to ensure accurate tracking of network performance.
- **Key fields**: `block_timestamp`, `previous_timestamp`

### Component C: Daily averaging and normalization

- **Purpose**: To aggregate granular block-level data into a representative daily metric.
- **Logic**: Individual block intervals are grouped by UTC day. The average block time is calculated as the arithmetic mean of all intervals recorded within that 24-hour period. The resulting values are normalized by chain and product identifiers. A zero-filling strategy is applied to maintain time-series continuity for days where data might be missing.
- **Key fields**: `block_time`, `timestamp`, `product_id`

*This methodology was automatically generated by Token Terminal's methodology analyzer.*

avg(block_timestamp - previous_block_timestamp)

Block time

Blockchains (L2)

Validators process transactions and receive fees from users (supply-side fees).

Astar is a collective driving web3 adoption by connecting people through blockchain technology, business innovation, decentralized applications, and seamless digital experiences in the Polkadot ecosystem. Astar was founded by Sota Watanabe and launched in 2021.

ASTR tokenholders own and govern the protocol. Part of the transaction fees is burned (revenue). Astar’s investors include Binance, Polychain Capital, Crypto.com, etc.

Astar Substrate

Block time

Block time

Chain breakdown