Ethereum: Can the number of transactions per second ever overwhelm the network?
As the second largest cryptocurrency in the world after market capitalization, Ethereum (ETH) has made enormous progress in recent years. With its Smart Contract Platform, Decentralized Finance (Defi) and Gaming ecosystems, Ethereum has become a stroke for innovation and experiments. One of the most important characteristics that distinguish Ethereum from other cryptocurrencies is the ability to manage a large volume of transactions per second (TPS).
With the increasing popularity of Ethereum, however, there are consideration that the network could be overwhelmed by the sheer number of transactions that it processes every day. In this article we will examine why TPS could be a restriction for Ethereum and what steps the team takes behind the network to alleviate these problems.
What is TPS?
TPS refers to the rate with which Ethereum can process transactions in his network. A single transaction typically includes two parties that exchange value in exchange for something such as gas or cryptocurrency. In order to clear up a large transaction volume, Ethereum requires a significant computing power.
Why TPS becomes a restriction
With increasing number of users in the Ethereum, the network must process an increasing amount of data. According to Ethereum, if it were 100 TP, it would be estimated to require around 1 million CPUs to run (CPU stands for a central processing unit). This corresponds to the processing service that is required over 10 million desktop computers that are carried out at the same time.
The average transaction period at Ethereum is currently about 20 seconds. In order to meet an enormous increase in computing power to a faster transaction period as under 2 seconds, this could lead to considerable scalability problems and possibly even lead to network overload.
Ethereum Answer
In order to address this problem, the Ethereum team has examined alternative consensus salgorithms that can cope with higher TPS rates. One of these alternatives is the POS algorithm (proof-of-stake), which is also known as Byzantine fault tolerance (BFT).
Proof: a new consensus salgorithm?
In 2017, Vitalik Buterin, the creator of Ethereum, introduced POS as an alternative to Bitcoins Pow. The idea behind POS is that validators are selected based on their “share” or their stocks and not for computing power. This approach eliminates the need for miners to solve complex mathematical problems in order to validate transactions.
While POS has some potential advantages, such as B. lower energy consumption and faster transaction times, also requires significant changes to the Ethereum architecture. One of the most important challenges is to ensure that the network’s decentralized governance system remains stable and safe with a high TPS rate.
Other options
In addition to POS, other alternatives are examined, including:
* Delegated Proof-of-Stake (DPOS): A variant of POS with which users can correctly validators instead of only validating transactions.
* Sharing:
A mechanism for distributing the network into smaller, more resistant pieces that can manage higher TPS rates.
Diploma
While the current TPS rate from Ethereum is still relatively high, the concerns about network scalability and overload are valid. The team behind Ethereum is working hard to solve these problems by examining alternative consensus salgorithms and other solutions.
However, it is important to note that the scaling of Ethereum will require considerable investments in infrastructure upgrades such as shaiting and parallel processing. Only time will show whether these efforts pay off and whether the network can maintain its current acceptance and innovation.
** What do you think?
