Blockchain’s Grand Illusion: The 75% Overestimation Exposed! 🎭

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Ah, dear reader, a most delightful revelation has emerged from the quill of Taraxa, suggesting that our beloved blockchain projects have been indulging in a rather extravagant game of exaggeration. It appears that illustrious networks such as Sonic, Solana, and Aptos have been caught with their trousers down, boasting about their theoretical TPS (transactions per second) while the reality on the mainnet tells a rather different tale.

Indeed, the findings unveil a grandiose overestimation of network efficiency and speed, akin to a peacock strutting about with feathers that are but a shadow of their true splendor. 🦚

Most Blockchains Overestimate Efficiency

In a most thorough investigation, Taraxa, that audacious Layer-1 blockchain, has taken it upon itself to scrutinize the claims of several leading blockchains. It is abundantly clear that while these networks trumpet their advances in throughput, many of their tests are conducted under conditions so ideal that one might suspect they were crafted by a playwright in a fit of whimsy. This study, however, sought to unveil the truth behind the most ‘bullish’ claims when subjected to the rigors of reality.

“Investors, developers, and users deserve transparency. The blockchain industry has long been obsessed with theoretical performance figures, but numbers generated in a lab mean little if they can’t be replicated in real-world conditions,” declared Taraxa co-founder Steven Pu, in a press release that could rival the most dramatic of soliloquies.

This investigation endeavored to assess these real-world conditions through a rather clever metric known as “TPS per dollar.” Taraxa compared a blockchain’s transactions per second to the actual cost of running a validator node, thus determining the true throughput. A most sensible approach, one might say! 💰

To illustrate this point, the study examined the highest-ever recorded throughput on various blockchain projects, with a few notable exclusions. Permissioned and sharded networks were cast aside, and certain transactions (like voting transactions) were discarded to avoid the inflation of numbers—much like a diet for the overly ambitious.

These figures were then compared to the TPS claims provided by developers:

The results, dear reader, were nothing short of theatrical. Sonic (formerly Fantom) boasted a throughput over 100 times its actual capabilities, while the industry average was a mere 20 times. The L1 blockchain arena is a veritable coliseum of competition, where the incentive for systematic inflation is as clear as day. ☀️

“Our research also shows that many networks require expensive hardware just to achieve modest transaction rates, which is neither technically impressive nor decentralized. By focusing on verifiable data from live networks, we can shift the conversation toward meaningful performance metrics,” Pu added, with the gravitas of a sage imparting wisdom.

When comparing TPS to dollar costs, the data revealed some rather amusing insights. Solana, for instance, had the highest costs by far, yet it managed to wield these resources with the finesse of a master chef, maintaining a high blockchain throughput. Taraxa, in its audacity, claimed to possess the best ratio in the entire industry by wide margins—perhaps a touch of self-promotion, one might muse.

Regardless of the firm’s desire to market its own capabilities, it seems that blockchain throughput estimations are inflated across the board, much like a balloon at a child’s birthday party. 🎈 Taraxa has been diligently analyzing several crucial Web3 sectors, including the AI industry, and its findings appear to hold considerable weight.

Let us hope that this hard data will inspire a wave of realism in the reporting of these projects, for the truth, as they say, is often stranger than fiction.

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2025-02-26 00:13