Hi there everyone, it's TheRingMaster back again to continue my Web 3.0 based blog series.
We've been looking at the pure potential of Web 3.0 and Hive in particular for quite some time now and two days ago I started sharing a few thoughts on the challenges or hurdles we would need to overcome before Web 3.0 can become as popular as Web 2.0.
In my last blog, I touched on the issue with content moderation and although that's a major challenge we need to pay attention to, I believe the biggest challenge yet with Web 3.0 technology just has to be the scalability problem.
Everyone that is experienced or has spent years on Hive or any Web 3.0 platform would always tell a new comer that the technology has so much potential but is still in the early stages of development. Ideally the main hot topic they will usually bring up is the issue with its scalability.
What exactly is scalability? - Well a lot of you on Hive may already know what it is but in the simplest of terms, scalability of any platform is about how well the platform can accommodate an increasing number of users without slowing down or becoming too expensive.
- We experience a bit of downtimes or slowing down of the frontends we use but that situation is becoming less often thanks to our able developers and administrators in the various communities and Hive Frontends which includes @ecency team and @inleo team to mention a couple.
Scalability I believe is the biggest limitation to Web 3.0 global adoption - because if we can't handle more people we can't have more people, as simple as that.
Why Is There Even A Scalability Problem On Web 3.0?
- What's stopping Web 3.0 from becoming as fast as Web 2.0?
The Web 3.0 tech savvy users might already have all the answers to this particular question but just in case you are not aware of exactly why there's even a scalability problem on Web 3.0, I'll explain briefly to you in the best way I possibly can.
Well the truth is there's more than one particular reason for this problem however it all centers around the fact that Web 3.0. is built on Blockchain Technology. - The very nature of Blockchain is actually what accounts for the scalability issues otherwise I think Web 3.0 would have been as smooth and basically no different from Web 2.0 which is not what the developers where shooting for.
Blockchain technology lies at the very core of many Web 3.0 applications if not all of them. Blockchain works like a digital ledger that securely and transparently records transactions made on it. The fact that no single entity controls it means it’s decentralized hence it becomes a fair and trustful too.
However, such decentralization entails sacrificing something else too. There's always going to be a trade-off for something that is good right?
Speed and Capacity
All Web 3.0 transactions would have to be verified across a network of computers or nodes, which takes time. With more people using these systems, they may eventually get congested leading to delays and don't forget higher fees on transactions. So the security and transparency you get for using Web 3.0 has been exchanged for speed and limited capacity in a way.
You may consider Web 2.0 platforms as being faster and normally having more users but the truth is they are less secured and centrally controlled by the organizations that run the platforms.
Resource Intensive
Another one of the biggest reasons for the scalability issues on Web 3.0 is its resource intensiveness. Running a blockchain node requires significant computational power and storage capacity.
This is mainly the reason why mining Bitcoin or any of the alt coins is very expensive. The computational power required needs more electrical energy and computer storage capacity.
This can really make it difficult for the network to grow as more users come in and that would also end up leading to slow processing times, and a few crashes here and there.
So What Solutions Are In The Pipeline
The Main objective of my blog is to highlight the solutions to the problem and not just the problem itself. I actually believe there's much optimism in the Web 3.0 community since developers are actively working on making scalability better and better each day.
Here on Hive you see updates to the frontends happening regularly and that's a positive sign that one day sooner than later, we would have a very scalable Web 3.0 or Hive.
I'm going to highlight on two promising ways the issue of scalability on Web 3.0 is being tackled afterwards we'll discuss when the solution will manifest fully in the chain.
Sidechains
Not many people know what Sidechains are but if you ask me I'd say it works just like how any assistant tool works. Sidechains are also Blockchains but they're there not to run their own operations but a piece of the operations of a main chain. The side chains are connected to the main chain so that it takes a part of the workload.
Just like I established before, Blockchains or let me say main Blockchains are usually slow and any attempt to speed it up would probably end up making it less secure or safe. So a great solution would be to create a smaller chain which would be the Sidechain to take some of the workload off of the main chain.
However one issue we have with these Sidechains is that they are not as decentralized as the main Blockchains so by connecting them to the main chains we are going to end up trading off some amount security for speed.
But I think it's logically ok to do. Why do I say that? Well Sidechains will trade-off security for speed but it's not going to happen in the main chain so we kind of maintain the security and Decentralization of the main chain will increasing its speed of transactions.
So the Sidechains will do a great job of removing transactions which do not need to be processed on the main blockchain thereby reducing congestion and boosting speed in transactions.
By connecting sidechains to Web 3.0 Blockchains, we will be able to transfer assets such as tokens between the main chain and sidechains making it more flexible and therefore scalable.
Ethereum uses this method well
State Channels
Another interesting solution to the scalability problem is state channels. What if we could process some of the transactions we need to make, but this time, off-chain. Now you might say "hey wouldn't than mean no Blockchain benefits?" - not exactly.
We will not be handling the entire transaction off chain but a part of it. The final decision of the transactions will be made on the primary chain which will lead to increased security and also since it will be recorded on the chain's public ledger, there'll be transparency while speed increases further. The good thing is that the cost will also reduce since the whole process will not be done in the main Blockchain.
I believe that's another great solution to the scalability problem however more technology and more innovation keeps coming up as the Web 3.0 developers and communities keep looking for ways to improve the entire platform.
I would absolutely love to get feedback on some of the other ways you think the issue of Web 3.0 scalability is being tackled.
When Will We See These Solutions In Action?
The good news I have for you is that these solutions are already being developed and tested.
The teams and organizations responsible for projects like Ethereum are actively working on implementing sidechains and state channels,
Let me give you a couple examples and you can follow the links to their main sites
Honestly it may take some time before wide adoption occurs since they have to be further refined and integrated into more applications but I think as long as there's continuous progress, it would be an eventuality for the world.
Future Prospects
I shared this blog not only to address the fact that solutions to the Web 3.0 scalability issues are being worked on but also to encourage and inspire my fellow Web 3.0 members to be very enthusiastic about the future of this platform. Patience is the most important virtue you need for your Web 3.0 journey.
These solutions I talked about will speed up transactions on Web 3.0 while at the same time reduce their costs and this would enable more and more people to adopt decentralized applications on a wider scale.
Thank you so much for the time taken to read the blog. As always I would absolutely love to get your feedback on the topic discussion.
Which other solutions do you think can help solve the scalability problem of Web 3.0 or Hive?