For example on pool for block 1168994 Time Found is 30.10.2016, 21:57:05 but on block explorer it is shown as Timestamp (UTC) 2016-10-30 19:53:38 and on every block i tried it is different

OK, I add image for clarity:

Explorer shows timestamp from previous block if you look at the pool when it was mined

Explorer shows timestamp from previous block if you look at the pool for time it was mined


You did not mention which pool or block explorer you are using but the answer is likely related to two things:

  1. Time zone reported by the pool or explorer explains the 19:xx vs 21:xx two hour difference in your example.
  2. Each pool and Block explorer uses a different node. Depending on which peers a node is connected to and network latency there can be a small difference between when blocks are reported.
  • I added image to illustrate, I think it's not about latency and timezone. – Valeriy Maksymiv Mar 23 '17 at 18:27

There is some nuance about what is a block height and the current block, and I think this is whats causing this confusion. So, if you think about a blockchain, there are the blocks that exist and the one that is being formed. Some people think that the block height is the number of blocks that exist (because, indeed, they are the only blocks that do exist and if for some reason the internet died, the block height of any given chain would be the number of blocks that actually exist). But others think that the block height includes the block that is being formed. So its the logical block height + 1.

Also, your image has too many arrows and I have no idea what you're trying to communicate, but you also might be observing the time stamping attack that some miners might use to gain an advantage, maybe. And I can't stress the maybe and the might. Basically, i've read somewhere that its possible to game the algorithm for the difficulty adjustment by modifying the timestamp.

The amount of ambiguity in this answers means its a horrible answer but I'll post it anyway because maybe someone will get funneled down a good rabbit hole.

  • I don't know about nuances, in Bitcoin explorer shows the same time when it was mined by pool. Monero and other Cryptonote explorers show timestamp from previous block. I think it's some bug we all got from bytecoin and it stays there. Look at the picture, – Valeriy Maksymiv Mar 27 '17 at 13:47
  • block 1272672 was found at ##:34:40, but in explorer it has ##:32:12 (hour is not important I omit), next block has it's timestamp in explorer, 1272673 - ##:34:40 whereas in fact it was found by pool at ##:34:55 but again this timestamp is shown for 1272674 at explorer, when in fact this block was found in ##:36:04. And again this timestamp is shown at explorer for next block 1272675 and so on – Valeriy Maksymiv Mar 27 '17 at 13:57

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