Solana's official social media account sparked intense debate within the cryptocurrency community over the weekend when it compared Ethereum's transaction processing speed unfavorably to the Nasdaq stock exchange's throughput. The August 9 post on X highlighted that while Ethereum processes approximately 22 transactions per second, Nasdaq handles 2,000 trades per second, positioning Solana as a more suitable blockchain for high-frequency trading applications.
สิ่งที่ควรรู้:
- Solana compared Ethereum's 22 TPS unfavorably to Nasdaq's 2,000 trades per second, triggering heated cross-blockchain debate
- Ethereum researcher polynya argued that traditional exchanges will always outperform decentralized blockchains due to fundamental consensus limitations
- Solana founder Anatoly Yakovenko countered that zero-knowledge proofs cannot improve blockchain performance and defended his network's economic model
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The comparison drew sharp criticism from Ethereum supporters who argued it represented a fundamental misunderstanding of blockchain architecture. Pseudonymous researcher polynya, who commands 94,000 followers on X, delivered the most detailed rebuttal. He emphasized that traditional financial infrastructure operates on entirely different technical principles than decentralized networks.
Nasdaq's Securities Information Processor handles 10 million operations per second with latency as low as 0.02 milliseconds, according to polynya's analysis. The system achieves 0.2 milliseconds latency between major exchanges like NYSE, Cboe, and Nasdaq itself. Three separate SIPs currently operate in parallel, enabling virtually unlimited throughput scaling.
"Given the crippling limitation of achieving strict global consensus, Nasdaq will forever be thousands of times faster and cheaper than any minimally decentralised L1 blockchain, short of exotic new physics that does not yet exist," polynya wrote. His assessment highlighted the core trade-off between decentralization and performance that defines blockchain technology.
The Ethereum researcher argued that any blockchain seeking to match traditional market speeds must rely on zero-knowledge proofs rather than raw transaction throughput. This approach would defer consensus requirements by processing succinct cryptographic proofs instead of individual transactions. Even with such optimizations, costs would remain orders of magnitude higher than centralized systems.
Polynya concluded with sharp criticism of the metrics debate itself. "Totally wild that cryptobros are still coping about 'TPS' like it's 2017 instead of building applications that make people's lives better," he wrote.
Solana Founder Defends Network Architecture
Solana Labs founder Anatoly Yakovenko responded with technical counterarguments challenging both the comparison framework and proposed solutions. He disputed the effectiveness of zero-knowledge proofs for improving blockchain performance. "Zk proofs are always slower than classical execution," Yakovenko stated.
The Solana founder argued that proper comparisons should focus on message scheduling and intake guarantees rather than consensus mechanisms. Traditional exchanges like Nasdaq ensure every submitted message receives processing with equal treatment. Blockchain networks, however, use priority fee systems that exclude lower-paying transactions from blocks.
"The comparison to Nasdaq that matters is scheduler throughput and latency, not block tps or consensus latency," Yakovenko explained. Block producers can provide transaction inclusion confirmations within microseconds, even with 10-second block times and 1,000 transactions per second capacity.
Yakovenko defended Solana's economic model by highlighting its low transaction costs. The network's floor priority fee represents less than one basis point, making additional message drops economically insignificant. "Dropping them vs including them has nearly zero marginal difference," he argued.
Zero-Knowledge Proof Misconceptions
The debate intensified when Yakovenko challenged widespread assumptions about zero-knowledge technology. He argued that ZK proofs cannot inherently improve system performance, contrary to popular belief within the cryptocurrency space.
These proofs reduce replication costs but do not enhance execution speed when replication is not the primary bottleneck.
"Let's assume that zk proofs are completely free and instant," Yakovenko proposed in a thought experiment. When transaction size remains smaller than state changes, downloading and executing transactions locally proves faster than receiving processed results over network connections. Local memory bandwidth and latency consistently outperform network-based alternatives.
The Solana founder specifically targeted Ethereum's cost structure in his analysis. "So the only place where zk proofs actually help is if replication is insanely expensive. Where is replication insanely expensive? On ethereum L1," he wrote. Layer-1 Ethereum benefits from posting state roots and ZK proofs because it avoids executing numerous state changes directly.
Broader Market Access Arguments
Solana community developer João Mendonça offered a different perspective on the Nasdaq comparison, focusing on accessibility rather than raw performance metrics. He argued that Solana's value proposition centers on democratizing high-frequency trading capabilities rather than matching traditional exchange speeds.
"The point of solana as a replacement for nasdaq is not to be as fast as nasdaq itself," Mendonça wrote. Instead, the network aims to provide similar execution prices with dramatically expanded access. This includes worldwide availability, permissionless participation, continuous operation, and uncensorable asset ownership across decentralized finance protocols.
Understanding Blockchain Terminology
The debate highlighted several key technical concepts that define blockchain performance measurement. Transactions per second (TPS) measures how many individual operations a network processes within one second. Consensus latency refers to the time required for network participants to agree on transaction validity and order.
Priority fees represent additional payments users make to ensure faster transaction processing during network congestion. Floor inclusion price indicates the minimum fee required for transaction inclusion in the next block. Zero-knowledge proofs are cryptographic methods that verify computation results without revealing underlying data.
Securities Information Processors aggregate and distribute market data across multiple trading venues. Basis points represent one-hundredth of a percentage point, commonly used in financial calculations.
Closing Thoughts
The weekend social media exchange exposed fundamental disagreements about blockchain scalability and appropriate performance benchmarks. While traditional financial infrastructure maintains clear speed advantages, proponents argue that decentralized networks offer unique benefits in accessibility and censorship resistance. At press time, SOL traded at $174.34.