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Understanding TPS in Blockchain [Complete Guide 2024]

2024-12-0410 min

This article is based on the excellent analysis by @0xGoku, whose insights into TPS inspired a deeper reflection on our certainties within the blockchain ecosystem.

The Great TPS Misunderstanding: A Story of Collective Confusion

Ah, TPS (Transactions Per Second)! If you've been in the blockchain space for a while, you've undoubtedly encountered this term. These famous numbers are often brandished like trophies by emerging projects, used as trump cards in heated Twitter debates. "Our blockchain achieves 100,000 TPS!" "Our revolutionary solution is 1,000 times faster than the rest!"... You know the tune.

But let me tell you a story. A story that begins with Bitcoin, spans the ages of blockchain innovation, and leads us to today, where we must seriously reconsider our obsession with these figures that, frankly, no longer mean much.

Back to Basics: When TPS Mattered

Let’s rewind to the early days of Bitcoin. A simpler time, almost naive in hindsight. Back then, comparing TPS actually made sense. Why? Because we were comparing systems fundamentally doing the same thing: transferring value from point A to point B. It was the blockchain equivalent of comparing the speed of different cars on the same straight road.

Bitcoin, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash... Each attempted to optimize essentially the same basic function. The differences boiled down to block size, frequency, consensus algorithms. It was an era where TPS comparisons were relevant, as they truly reflected a network's ability to perform its primary mission.

The Ethereum Revolution: When Everything Changed

Then came Ethereum, completely disrupting our understanding of what a blockchain could do. We transitioned from a simple calculator to a global, programmable computer. Imagine for a moment: it’s as if we moved from comparing compact cars to comparing a city car, a farm tractor, and a cargo plane. All are vehicles, yes, but their purposes are so different that comparing them solely on speed makes no sense.

This revolution introduced a complexity that simple TPS can no longer capture. Transactions are no longer mere value transfers. They can involve complex interactions with smart contracts, trades on DEXs, governance votes, NFT minting, or sophisticated DeFi operations. And yet, in our TPS metrics, all these operations are counted the same way, as if they were equivalent.

Marketing Takes Over: The Race for Numbers

This is where marketing exploited the gap. Blockchain projects began flaunting ever-more-impressive TPS figures, without context or nuance. It became the equivalent of "horsepower under the hood" in the automotive industry: a figure that looks impressive on paper but rarely reflects real-world usage.

Take a typical example: a new project boasts, "Our blockchain can handle 100,000 TPS!!!" Impressive, right? But let’s dig deeper:

These tests are often conducted on ultra-optimized machines
In a perfectly controlled laboratory environment
With transactions simplified to the maximum
Without any real network load
And, most importantly... on a testnet, far from real-world conditions

The reality? Once in production, these same networks often struggle to sustain even 2,000 to 3,000 TPS... when everything goes well.

The Day Kusama Changed the Game

As the crypto world continued its frenzied race for theoretical TPS records, something extraordinary happened on Monday, December 2, 2024. Kusama, Polkadot’s canary network often considered its "experimental playground," achieved the unthinkable: 82,171 TPS. But wait, this isn’t just another arbitrary number.

What makes this feat remarkable is its context. We’re not talking about a laboratory test or a demonstration on a sanitized testnet. No, these performances were achieved on Kusama’s mainnet, with real economic stakes, real validators, and real transactions. And the most fascinating part? All this used only 15% of the network's total capacity!

The Real Innovation: Polkadot’s Multi-Core Approach

To understand why this achievement is so significant, let’s dive into the unique architecture of the Polkadot ecosystem. Picture your modern computer. It no longer operates with a single powerful processor but with multiple cores working in parallel. This is precisely the approach Polkadot has adopted.

Each parachain in the Polkadot ecosystem acts as an independent core, capable of processing its own transactions. With:

1,500 TPS per execution core
An ultra-fast block time of 0.5 seconds
Finality in 18 seconds
The ability to add parachains as needed

It’s like having a processor that can endlessly add cores without losing efficiency. With 100 cores, we’re talking about a potential of 150,000 TPS, and this is just the beginning.

The Big Event: Spammening on Kusama

And here we are today, December 4, 2024, 5 PM. Kusama is about to rewrite history with its own "Spammening." This isn’t just an attempt to set a record; it’s a public demonstration of what blockchain technology can truly achieve when properly designed.

Why is this so different from the other "records" we’re used to hearing about?

It’s real, not theoretical:
- Tests on Polkadot’s mainnet
- Actual transactions
- Community validation
- Results verifiable in real-time
The infrastructure is already in place:
- No special configurations
- No overpowered machines
- No controlled environment
- Just the network as it exists
The potential for growth is enormous:
- Remember Kusama: 15% capacity for 82,171 TPS
- Polkadot aims for 100,000+ TPS
- And that’s with only a fraction of the possible parachains

Beyond TPS: What Really Matters

But ultimately, this brings us to a fundamental question: what should we really consider when evaluating a blockchain in 2024?

Finality and Reliability

It’s not enough to be fast; you also need to be reliable. Transaction finality – the point where we can be absolutely certain that a transaction is irreversible – is crucial. Polkadot excels here with its 18-second finality, offering a perfect balance between speed and security.

Decentralization Under Load

What’s the point of impressive performance if it comes at the cost of centralization? Polkadot’s multi-core approach maintains true decentralization even under maximum load. Each parachain retains its independence while benefiting from the security of the main network.

System Economy

Performance shouldn’t come at exorbitant costs. Polkadot’s architecture allows for predictable costs and economic efficiency, even at scale.

The Future is Already Here

What we’re witnessing today with the Spammening isn’t just a technical demonstration. It’s proof that we’ve entered a new era of blockchain, where performance is no longer theoretical but tangible.

The obsession with marketing TPS is ending. Make way for verifiable performance, real scalability, and, most importantly, tangible utility for end users.

This evening of December 4, 2024, may mark the moment we collectively stopped talking about TPS as a marketing metric and began seeing it for what it truly is: one indicator among many in the complex and fascinating ecosystem of modern blockchains.