What Is Scalability Trilemma?
Also known as: Blockchain Trilemma, Scalability Trilemma
In short
The scalability trilemma is the concept that it is hard for a blockchain to maximize decentralization, security, and scalability all at once, and that strengthening one often requires sacrificing the others.
The concept was popularized by Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin. Decentralization refers to the network being operable by many independent participants on ordinary hardware; security refers to the network's resilience against attacks and attempts to seize control; and scalability refers to the network's ability to process high transaction volume at reasonable fees.
For example, a network can process far more transactions per second by increasing block size and shortening block time; however, in that case running a node requires powerful hardware and high bandwidth, the number of nodes falls, and the network becomes centralized. Networks that use few validators can be fast, but the risk of those validators colluding to control the network increases. Networks such as Bitcoin and Ethereum have chosen to prioritize decentralization and security on the base layer.
The main approaches to overcoming the trilemma include Layer 2 solutions (rollups, payment channels), sharding, and cryptographic methods such as zero-knowledge proofs. The trilemma is not a strict mathematical law but a framework describing design trade-offs; how successful these methods will be also continues to be debated.
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