ETH vs XTZ/DUN vs TON vs AVAX vs SOL: A tale of 'Optimistic Finality'

TL;DR: While Ethereum upgrades are still pending (4 years and counting by my watch!), Free TON and Solana are the most advanced, usable blockchain platforms to date. However, Free TON offers more rigid data from real-world battle testing, compared to theoretical figures advertised on Solana.

Use the word 'Blockchain' to the average man-on-the-street, and you'll immediately notice a glazed over expression form on their face.

Why?

Well, despite the industry perception that block-size and transaction throughput is more interesting than who wins the Euros, most people are pretty happy with having PayPal's friendly fingers in their pockets.

So when it comes to that hallowed Utopian dream of 'mass adoption', what are the factors which really matter? Trimming back the fluff, there are just three items on the agenda:

• Throughput: The number of transactions the network can process.

• Efficiency: how smooth is the user experience?

• And Finality: we'll get to this...

The first two terms are reasonably self-explanatory. If it takes longer to 'put the transaction through' than methods they currently use (such as Visa) they probably won't use it. This is not to be confused with latency, the rate at which the network can resolve the transactions. Imagine a post office. It can process letters and packages far quicker than it can deliver them.

And in terms of efficiency, well, if using crypto requires any extra modicum of effort, the general population are likely to take the path of least resistance.

Common sense really.

What is finality then? Why does it matter? And who gives it the right to be so optimistic?

Payment Received... or Not?

Imagine you receive a bank error in your favour, like in a game of Monopoly. You check your account, and somehow, there is an extra £1,000,000!?

It sounds nice, but unless you've the facilities to make a lightning fast withdrawal and skip the country, chances are you're going to have to give it back.

Now, imagine the same scenario, except it's not your bank account, but your Bitcoin wallet.

Start planning your next holiday! Due to the enormous hashing power of the BTC network, you can you can be 'optimistically' confident that the transaction has 'finality' after just one confirmation.

Once the transaction has at least 6 confirmations (roughly an hour with BTC 10 min block times), the cost of reversing the event (which effectively requires forking the blockchain!) is out of the question. You longer need to be optimistic, the transaction has final 'finality' and unless you decide to be a bloody nice guy then those Bitcoin are all yours!

Recap: "Optimistic finality" comes first (collation), and then “final finality” happens (validation).

Finality on Other Blockchains

Ethereum: possesses similar qualities to Bitcoin in that given it's size and network power, reversing a transaction for a mere mortal isn't feasible. However, if ETH really was immutable, then Ethereum classic wouldn't be a thing now, would it?

Tezos/Dune: Tezos was designed to be the unforkable blockchain when it was first conceived some 5 years ago now. While Dune Network is not a fork of Tezos itself, it is a much improved version of the base layer technology with more functionality and human readability. In terms of finality, there are no real issues. However, with 60-second block times and a max ~1000 TPS, it's showing it's age and has struggled to see major use cases develop.

Avalanche: I'll choose my words carefully here; there is no finality on AVAX. Okay, maybe that wasn't very careful. There are some great features of the platform, and it approaches the scaling issues in a unique manner. The downside of this novelty though, is finality. Next.

Free TON: a 5th generation blockchain, built from the open-source ashes of Telegrams multi-billion dollar cryptocurrency venture (GRAM). As the only chain to feature a fully functioning infinite-sharding mechanism. Due to sharding, transactions confirm in fractions of a second, and you can be optimistic they are irreversible after 2-3 seconds, and guaranteed after roughly 10. Hypothetically it is able to scale to millions of TPS, (and importantly, is the only decentralised community to have me as it's head cheerleader!).

Solana: another 5th gen chain, and arguably the most comparable to my beloved Free TON. Finality is roughly on par, as is the advertised network TPS. However, one bone of contention is that advertised throughput on SOL (50k - 60k TPS) derives from what could be described as laboratory perfect conditions. I.e., it doesn't work quite as well in the real world.

Final Thoughts - DYOR

Look, I work for TON Labs, and even if I didn't, I'm emotionally invested in the future of Free TON. Take what I say with a grain of sceptical salt if you wish, but I wouldn't be wearing the uniform if I wasn't drinking the refreshingly decentralised Kool-Aid.

DYOR at the very least, I promise once you come to the crystal blue side, you won't look back!