Scalability is the biggest roadblock. As more people use blockchains, transactions pile up, fees skyrocket, and the whole system slows down. Solutions exist, but none are perfect. Some fix one problem while creating new ones.
1. Consensus Mechanisms: Speed vs. Security
• Bitcoin’s Proof-of-Work (PoW) is slow but rock-solid secure.
• Ethereum moved to Proof-of-Stake (PoS), which is faster, but critics say it sacrifices decentralization.
2. Block Size Limits: More Space, More Problems
• Bitcoin’s blocks are just 1MB, limiting how many transactions fit inside.
• Increasing block size sounds like an easy fix, but it makes running a node expensive, potentially giving control to big players.
3. Network Congestion: Traffic Jams & Ridiculous Fees
• In 2021, Ethereum gas fees reached hundreds of dollars per transaction during the NFT craze.
• If you can’t afford to send crypto without breaking the bank, is it really a viable payment system?
There are two main ways to scale:
1. Layer 2 solutions – They process transactions off-chain, reducing congestion.
2. On-chain changes – These modify the blockchain itself to improve efficiency.
• Optimistic Rollups assume transactions are fine unless proven otherwise.
• Zero-Knowledge (ZK) Rollups use cryptographic proofs to verify transactions instantly.
• These can supposedly take Ethereum from ~15 TPS to over 2,000. We’ll see.
• State Channels (Like Bitcoin’s Lightning Network)
• Small transactions happen off-chain, with only the final balance recorded on-chain.
• Lightning Network makes Bitcoin payments instant and almost free—but setting it up isn’t always smooth.
• Sidechains (e.g., Polygon, Ronin)
• Independent blockchains that connect to Ethereum, reducing congestion.
• They work, but some argue they’re not really decentralized.
• Sharding: Ethereum 2.0’s Master Plan
• Instead of one blockchain handling everything, it’s split into smaller pieces (shards).
• Ethereum plans to introduce 64 shards, but this upgrade has been “coming soon” for years.
• Block Size Increases: Bigger Isn’t Always Better
• Bitcoin Cash increased its block size to 32 MB to handle more transactions.
• It worked, sort of—but larger blocks mean fewer people can run full nodes, which centralizes control.
1. Ethereum’s 2021 Gas Fee Crisis
• NFT and DeFi hype clogged Ethereum, sending fees through the roof.
• Layer 2 solutions like Arbitrum and Optimism helped, but some users just abandoned Ethereum altogether.
2. Bitcoin’s Lightning Network in El Salvador
• When El Salvador made Bitcoin legal tender, regular transactions were too slow.
• The Lightning Network made payments instant… when it worked. Some merchants still had issues.
3. Solana: Fast But Flawed
• Solana boasts 65,000 TPS, but network outages have been a recurring problem.
• Developers say they’re working on it, but reliability is still a question mark.
