The number of transactions a blockchain can process per second. Theoretical TPS is often much higher than sustained real-world performance. Bitcoin: ~7 TPS, Ethereum: ~15-30 TPS, Solana: ~2,000-5,000 non-vote TPS sustained (65,000 theoretical). Throughput depends on block size, block time, transaction size, and execution parallelism.
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The number of transactions a blockchain can process per second. Theoretical TPS is often much higher than sustained real-world performance. Bitcoin: ~7 TPS, Ethereum: ~15-30 TPS, Solana: ~2,000-5,000 non-vote TPS sustained (65,000 theoretical). Throughput depends on block size, block time, transaction size, and execution parallelism.
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Throughput (TPS) (throughput-tps) Category: Blockchain General Definition: The number of transactions a blockchain can process per second. Theoretical TPS is often much higher than sustained real-world performance. Bitcoin: ~7 TPS, Ethereum: ~15-30 TPS, Solana: ~2,000-5,000 non-vote TPS sustained (65,000 theoretical). Throughput depends on block size, block time, transaction size, and execution parallelism. Aliases: TPS, Transactions Per Second Related: Block Time, Scalability
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The average time between consecutive blocks being produced. Bitcoin: ~10 minutes, Ethereum: ~12 seconds, Solana: ~400ms. Shorter block times enable faster transaction confirmation but increase orphan rates and storage requirements. Block time is a fundamental trade-off between speed and network overhead.
A blockchain's ability to handle increasing transaction volume without degrading performance or decentralization. The scalability trilemma posits that blockchains can optimize at most two of: decentralization, security, and scalability. Solutions include Layer 2 rollups, sharding, parallel execution (Solana's Sealevel), and modular architectures.
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The average time between consecutive blocks being produced. Bitcoin: ~10 minutes, Ethereum: ~12 seconds, Solana: ~400ms. Shorter block times enable faster transaction confirmation but increase orphan rates and storage requirements. Block time is a fundamental trade-off between speed and network overhead.
A blockchain's ability to handle increasing transaction volume without degrading performance or decentralization. The scalability trilemma posits that blockchains can optimize at most two of: decentralization, security, and scalability. Solutions include Layer 2 rollups, sharding, parallel execution (Solana's Sealevel), and modular architectures.
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A distributed, append-only ledger that records transactions in cryptographically linked blocks. Each block contains a hash of the previous block, forming an immutable chain. Nodes in the network maintain copies of the ledger and reach agreement through consensus mechanisms. Blockchains enable trustless, decentralized record-keeping without a central authority.
The protocol by which nodes in a distributed network agree on the current state of the ledger. Common mechanisms include Proof of Work (Bitcoin), Proof of Stake (Ethereum, Solana), and BFT variants. Consensus ensures all honest nodes converge on the same transaction history despite potential network delays or malicious actors.
A consensus mechanism where validators are selected to produce blocks based on the amount of cryptocurrency they have staked (locked) as collateral. PoS is energy-efficient compared to Proof of Work. Misbehaving validators risk losing their stake (slashing). Solana, Ethereum (post-Merge), Cosmos, and Cardano use PoS variants.
A consensus mechanism where miners compete to solve computationally expensive puzzles to produce blocks and earn rewards. PoW provides strong security (51% attack resistance) but is energy-intensive. Bitcoin and pre-Merge Ethereum use PoW. The difficulty adjusts to maintain target block times regardless of total network hash power.