From online banking, there has been a huge change in blockchain in the world of business and trade. Because they have so many advantages over conventional means of payment, such as security, decentralization, anonymity, transparency, and scalability, people favor blockchain transactions and cryptocurrencies. Although blockchain networks have many benefits, specific worries also surface.
The trilemma of resolving decentralization, security, and scalability must be resolved as quickly as possible since it is one of the most important issues in the blockchain world. Then, and only then, can this sector really become widely accepted. Let’s take a look at the Blockchain Trilemma and see why it’s such a big deal.
The Blockchain Trilemma: What Is It?
The three key features of blockchain technology are security, decentralization, and scalability. The “opportunity cost” associated with using blockchain technology is the primary idea behind the blockchain trilemma. The three advantages of the blockchain network can only be partially realized by those who develop blockchains. Vitalik Buterin, who was a co-founder of the Ethereum network, was the one who first presented the idea to the public. Ethereum 2.0, according to Vitalik Buterin, will address this trade-off.
The Three Fighting Factors
You know how it’s hard for you to manage your social life, job, and sleep? It’s comparable to the blockchain trilemma. The consensus in the Bitcoin world is that scalability and security must be mutually exclusive for fully decentralized networks. Before we start, let’s take a brief look at them.
What Is Decentralization?
Decentralization is the process of distributing authority over something from a single central organization, business, or government to a number of smaller bodies. Decentralization in the blockchain allows users to manage using their computers (called nodes) from anywhere globally instead of having a single entity or person in charge of maintaining network management.
What Is Blockchain Security?
Although blockchain is naturally safe, it is not completely impervious to hackers. If a hacker takes over 51% of a network, they may change a blockchain and modify transactions to steal data. The more nodes in a blockchain, the more secure it is.
What Is Scalability?
Like in business, scalability on the blockchain refers to how big a network can go while keeping the same output and transaction speed. Security often suffers when scalability and decentralization operate together, while security constraints prevent the decentralized network from scalability. Why? Decentralized networks need some labor, which makes scaling rather challenging.
How to Solve the Blockchain Trilemma
Although deploying blockchain technology is significantly hampered by the Blockchain Trilemma, new ideas may be able to resolve the issue. The aim is to effectively strike a balance between network security, decentralization, and scalability. Despite the CAP theorem’s continued validity after almost four decades, the advent of Proof-of-Stake systems and the adoption of Layer-1 and Layer-2 solutions are changing the game in favor of decentralized, secure, and scalable blockchain networks.
Conclusion
Blockchain can revolutionize the world, but the scalability trilemma prevents it from doing so. To ensure decentralization and security, blockchain networks can only process a few transactions per second, making broad adoption challenging. However, the solutions that are now being proposed by developers looking for an answer to this issue show that the technical progress that blockchain has already achieved will only continue and that these networks may very well be able to manage considerably more data in the future.