Economic, legal, and political industries have been using contracts, transactions, and records as an integral way of validating their systems and procedures since their inception, providing key verification of identities and records of events. As the digital economy has transformed, though, many of these systems have yet to catch up with the advent of blockchain technology.
By using blockchain technology, companies can not only enhance their security, but also have more transparency with their transactions. Despite its many advantages and rapidly growing rate of adoption, though, blockchain technology has yet to be fully adapted into the mainstream. This is likely because, as with many new technologies, blockchain has experienced its growing pains—with one of the most prominent problems to plague the burgeoning technology being scalability.
Scalability of blockchain networks is the ability of that platform to support increasing load of transactions, as well as increasing the number of nodes in the network. A “scalable” blockchain is often considered one that can achieve a high TPS (transaction per second). It is an incredibly important issue in the blockchain space, and has been the focus of many new emerging blockchains.
There are many factors that influence a blockchain’s ability to scale. The first is its consensus mechanism, the technique by which the transaction is propagated, validated, and finalized. One example of a blockchain that scales poorly is Bitcoin. This is due to its Proof of Work (PoW) consensum mechanism which it uses to determine the next valid block. A new block needs to be synchronised to the whole network so every node can roughly compete in the same race for the next block.
Another factor impacting a blockchain’s scalability is its network latency, an important factor impacting the overall performance of a blockchain. To be validated, a transaction needs to be broadcast to all the nodes and their response needs to be collated for majority-based consensus. Having a dedicated network bandwidth goes a long way in minimizing the network delays and improving the overall throughput. Node infrastructure is also important for scalability, as without this the performance is likely to be hindered.
Despite blockchain’s issues, the technology is still accelerating at a rapid pace and many platforms are emerging to tackle these complex issues. Deloitte’s 2021 Global Blockchain Survey found that 76% of respondents believe that digital assets will serve as a strong alternative to, or outright replacement for, fiat currencies in the next 5–10 years.
One blockchain in particular that is dedicated to combating blockchain’s scalability issues is Zetrix, a layer-1 public blockchain that facilitates smart contracts and delivers privacy, security and scalability. The cryptographic infrastructure in Zetrix can be introduced in multiple industries as it creates a more transparent, secure and efficient process for the adoption of all enterprises.
The platform is all about bringing “rapid deployment solutions to the market with meaningful benefits and real-world impact for countries, businesses, and users” according to its website. Working alongside developers to build the next generation platform of public blockchain infrastructure, the team at Zetrix believes that the future is multi-chain and cross chain linkages are the key and is dedicated to solving what it calls “last-mile challenges” of blockchain such as productization, interoperability, and scalability. Ultimately, Zetrix’s mission is to make native blockchain and cross-chain solutions truly accessible and effortless.
