Avalanche experienced a spike in transactions over the weekend, exceeding its previous record for maximum transactions per second (TPS). This influx was largely driven by "inscriptions" on the network. The increased activity led to higher gas fees and some processing issues. Other blockchain networks like Arbitrum and ZK Sync also saw outages, showing the challenges many chains still face with scalability and mainstream usage levels.
Avalanche was still able to process most transactions, which CEO Emin Gün Sirer partially attributes to the network's subnet architecture. The subnets allow for faster and cheaper transactions. One subnet project called Pulsar accounted for nearly two-thirds of the recent spike in activity. This shows the impact subnets can have, similar to games like Star Atlas for Solana's network congestion. Another option Avalanche offers is Dexalot, which can trade assets with lower fees.
The stress test from the transaction spike uncovered some limitations around scalability and costs for Avalanche. Polygon and Solana also handled increased inscription volumes without major incidents. This highlights the ongoing need for greater scalability solutions if blockchains are to reach mainstream adoption levels. Even ZK Sync, which processes millions of transactions, suffered outages from the increased workload. Managing periods of peak demand remains a hurdle for many chains.
Overall, the incident showed Avalanche can handle spikes but needs to improve to sustain higher activity levels. It still offers faster and cheaper transactions than Ethereum in most cases. As with any new technology, real-world events lead to opportunities to make upgrades. The challenge facing Avalanche and other chains is finding scalability solutions to facilitate consumer-grade usage without high fees or network delays. How these leading networks adapt could determine which platforms see the greatest real-world adoption moving forward.
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