What is propagation time in a peer-to-peer network?

Propagation time is how long it takes for data to travel from one computer (node) in a network to all the others. In a peer-to-peer network, no single server is in charge — instead, each node passes data directly to its neighbors, who pass it to their neighbors, and so on in a ripple effect. The network is designed to stay reliable even when some nodes are slow or offline, because it automatically finds alternative paths to keep data moving. For cryptocurrency users, this matters because until a node receives a new transaction or block, it has an incomplete picture of the network — two nodes can briefly have different views of what's happened, which is why low propagation time is a key design goal in systems like Kaspa.