Why Blockchain Performance is Hard to Measure

Andreessen Horowitz August 8, 2022
Joseph Bonneau

Performance and scalability are much-discussed challenges in the crypto space, relevant to both Layer 1 projects (independent blockchains) and Layer 2 solutions (like rollups and off-chain channels). Yet we don’t have standardized metrics or benchmarks. Numbers are often reported in inconsistent and incomplete ways, making it difficult to accurately compare projects and often obscuring what matters most in practice.

We need a more nuanced and thorough approach to measuring and comparing performance – one that breaks performance down into multiple components, and compares trade-offs across multiple axes. In this post, I define basic terminology, outline challenges, and offer guidelines and key principles to keep in mind when evaluating blockchain performance.

Scalability vs. performance

First, let’s define two terms,...

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