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The blockchain trilemma — coined by Vitalik Buterin — states that a blockchain can optimise for at most two of three properties: decentralisation, security, and scalability. This lesson explores the techniques and architectures designed to push past this limitation.
Decentralisation
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Security -------- Scalability
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
| Decentralisation | Many independent nodes participate; no single point of control |
| Security | The network is resistant to attacks and data is immutable |
| Scalability | The network can handle a large number of transactions per second |
| Network | TPS (approximate) | Finality |
|---|---|---|
| Bitcoin | ~7 | ~60 minutes (6 confirmations) |
| Ethereum (L1) | ~15-30 | ~12 minutes (finality) |
| Visa | ~65,000 (peak capacity) | Seconds |
| Solana | ~4,000 (theoretical: 65,000) | ~0.4 seconds |
| Arbitrum (L2) | ~4,000 | Seconds (inherits Ethereum finality) |
Layer 2 (L2) solutions process transactions off the main chain (Layer 1) while inheriting its security:
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