What is Transactions Per Second (TPS)?
Transactions per second (TPS) is the number of transactions a blockchain network can process in each second.
TPS is a quite popular term in the crypto space, especially when talking about scalability. To calculate TPS, you have to know the block time, the average transaction size, and the block size.
Block Times of Different Cryptocurrencies
Block time is the average time it takes to create a new block in a chain. Bitcoin’s is 10 minutes long. The average transaction size you’ll have to calculate. The block size is the size of a block in a chain. Bitcoin’s is 1 MB.
Currently, Bitcoin’s TPS is 7, which, when compared to other cryptocurrencies, isn’t the quickest. For instance, Ethereum, on average, processes 20 transactions per second, which is almost twice Bitcoin’s transactions rate.
With Ethereum 2.0 on the way, things are about to get much better for the second-largest crypto coin and network. Other crypto coins with higher TPS rates than Bitcoin include Ripple with 1,500 transactions, Bitcoin Cash with 60 transactions, Litecoin 56 transactions, and Dash 48 transactions.
Other Network’s TPS Times
Compared to PayPal, which can handle 193 transactions per second, and VISA, which can handle about 25,000 transactions on average, cryptocurrencies still have a long way to go before completely replacing such traditional ways.
Moreso, Bitcoin’s decentralization makes it hard to scale up without sacrificing decentralization. Achieving more incredible speeds comes at the expense of decentralization, defeating the idea of a decentralized ecosystem, which the coin and technology aim for. While Bitcoin stands out as a top-performing network, many blockchain projects exist that boast high TPS numbers.