Over the past decade, blockchain developers have aimed for a single primary performance metric: speed. While transactions per second (TPS) became the key performance indicator, high TPS has not led to the anticipated mass adoption.
Speed and Performance: What’s the Problem
In theory, a 'fast' blockchain should perform excellently under pressure, but in practice, many systems struggle. The main issue lies in how network components behave under high loads.
Bottleneck Issues in Blockchain
Bottlenecks arise at different levels. The first is at the node level, where resources may not be sufficient to handle large quantities of transactions. The second is user behavior during high-traffic periods, where legitimate transactions can be lost, and users may engage in front-running strategies. The third factor is propagation delay, which can lead to suboptimal network functioning.
Solutions to Overcome Bottlenecks
The industry is responding to challenges with a new engineering approach. Local fee markets have been introduced to reduce pressure on global transaction pending areas. New technologies, such as modular consensus layers and parallel disk write methods, improve speed without compromising data size.
The blockchain space is moving forward, learning from past mistakes. Those who tackle bottlenecks early will define performance standards in the new era.
