If half or more of the hash rate is down for some reason, how long would it take to find blocks with such a slow adjusting difficulty?
This is not a hard question to think through.
Assume we lose 1/2 of all our hashing power - let's call this the "worst case scenario"
The average confirmation time would double from 10 minutes to 20 minutes.
The adjustment period would go from about 10-14 days to 20-28 days.
The network would adjust in about 20-28 days and we would be back to 10 minute confirmations.
Although a bit of a PITA for maybe a month this is certainly not anything I worry about and remember this is the worst case scenario.
Well, if this is all accompanied by the press that other crypto currencies are doing ok and Bitcoin is flawed by design, don't you think people would start dumping their Bitcoins and joining other cryptos, because they have those 2 issues sorted unlike Bitcoin? I mean the worst case scenario (which can be worse than half the hash rate by the way), can turn even worse, as when the price drops due to investors leaving, miners would be leaving too, hence hash rate drops even more, that'd be a vicious circle. I am not spreading fud here, just trying to raise awareness that without flexibility of miners and developers this is an accident waiting to happen. You can put your heads in the sand as long as you want, but you know I am right.