Catenaa, Friday, February 28, 2025-Blockchain networks routinely inflate their performance metrics, overestimating throughput by an average of 75%, according to new research by Steven Pu, co-founder of the Layer-1 blockchain Taraxa.
The study, based on data from Chainspect, examined 22 blockchain networks and found that real-world transaction processing speeds fall significantly short of the figures commonly cited in whitepapers and marketing materials.
Pu’s findings indicate that most networks require costly infrastructure to achieve even modest transaction rates, with only four of the studied blockchains reaching a double-digit transactions-per-second (TPS) cost ratio.
“This means that TPS figures, often cited in whitepapers and marketing materials, vastly exceed what is achievable under real-world conditions,” the report states.
The discrepancy is attributed to blockchain projects relying on idealized test environments, rather than real-world mainnet performance, to determine throughput.
Pu emphasized the need for the industry to shift its focus to cost-adjusted efficiency metrics rather than raw TPS numbers. His proposed approach evaluates blockchains by measuring TPS per dollar spent on validator node operation, highlighting the true cost and scalability of different networks.
“Investors, developers, and users deserve transparency,” Pu said. “The blockchain industry has long been obsessed with theoretical performance figures that mean little if they can’t be replicated in real-world conditions.”
The report calls for greater accountability, urging blockchain projects to prioritize verifiable data from live networks to ensure more accurate assessments of network scalability and decentralization.
