If they cut the transaction time from 10 minutes to 5 minutes and kept the blocksize the same for the five minute transaction that would, effectively, double the total throughput.

It would also achieve confirmations in half the time.


Jump ahead ten years and ask if a ten minute transaction time will still work?

Why not, then, have options at every halving?

We already have scheduled halvings every four years so why not just have soft forks added at the same time to select transaction time, blocksize, or combinations of the two. The "halving" already has a certain degree of consternation but it is in the open and people prepare. Adding the decisions at the same time about blocksize would seem to be a trivial consideration, plus, many miners would be using the halving as an exit opportunity after it makes their equipment no longer competitive.