Before ranking the best-performing crypto concerning transaction speed, it’s essential to clarify basic but relevant concepts.
With the term transaction speed, we mean transactions per second (TPS), a unit of measurement used to indicate the speed and scalability of a blockchain, one of the cryptocurrencies’ main issues. Cryptocurrencies with higher transaction speed result as “the most efficient” because the higher the transaction speed of its blockchain, the better the ability to transfer data and process transactions.
The time required by a network to complete a transaction depends on four main factors:
Required fees and chain size (network capacity);
Block time;
Congestion and huge volume (the network can suffer an overload);
Real-time traffic vs ideal condition.
As we know, centralized databases can handle thousands of transactions each second, for example, VISA around 24.000 and Paypal 193 per second, but the situation is entirely different when considering decentralized networks.
Between 2021 and 2022, several projects and blockchains were born to solve the main problems, such as the reduction of gas costs and congestion on the network (a good example may be Polygon). It’s important to note that a blockchain with a high TPS isn’t necessarily superior to or better than others with a lower TPS.
Take into account that there are other factors to measure the performance of a network, not only the TPS, such as:
Transaction latency - the amount of time between a specific transaction being submitted to a network and confirmed or rejected;
Transaction throughput - the time required for valid records to be added to blocks. It is calculated by dividing the total number of records added to the blocks by the total time expressed in seconds;
Energy Efficiency - depending on the consensus mechanism adopted and if the chain is or is not eco-friendly;
The number of validators - the more the number of them, the better the performance of the chain. Pay attention to the laggard one;
Block time - the amount of time required by validators/miners to verify the transactions, complete them and create a new one.
Which cryptocurrency has the fastest transaction rate?
Name | Transactions per second (TPS) |
|---|---|
Fantom (FTM) | 25000 |
Cosmos (ATOM) | 10000 |
Polygon (MATIC) | 7000 |
Solana (SOL) | 2825 |
Ripple (XRP) | 1500 |
Fantom (FTM) - 25,000 TPS
Fantom (FTM) is an EVM-compatible blockchain platform with a speed of 25,000 TPS, if you don't know check what is an EVM in crypto. It is one of the fastest networks on this list. Fantom employs the directed acyclic graph (DAG), a distributed ledger system comprised of a computer network that conducts transactions in parallel. To validate transactions, each computer in a DAG refers its transactions to random surrounding computers, who then repeat the process, rapidly disseminating the transaction over the whole network. This technology is responsible for the tremendous speed and practically infinite scalability of the Fantom network.
Cosmos (ATOM) - 10,000 TPS
Cosmos (ATOM) is highly popular because it can create cross-chain dApps (Anchor, Chainweaver, Klever, and Flare, for example). Cosmos process more than 10,000 transactions per second. It is a fully open-source platform and a decentralized network with a Proof-of-Stake consensus algorithm. Cosmos is defined as the internet of blockchains and aims to resolve the scalability issue.
Polygon (MATIC) - 7,000 TPS
Polygon (MATIC) has a TPS of 7,000, it seeks to grow the Ethereum network by enabling numerous scaling methods, including Layer 2 and sidechain solutions. It provides security support for other blockchains and joins multiple chains to its ecosystem while managing communication between participating Polygon chains and Ethereum networks. It also provides a framework for Ethereum DApps to run on a network of linked blockchains while retaining Ethereum’s network security and other Layer 1 chain features. Polygon has attracted developers who have been frustrated by Ethereum’s expensive gas prices and sluggish throughput. The Polygon Network is used by many high-profile gaming companies, decentralized exchanges, and DeFi apps.
Solana (SOL) - 2,825 TPS
Solana (SOL) is one of the most popular cryptocurrencies, with a TPS of 2,825. The average cost per transaction is $0.00025 as a decentralized blockchain for user-friendly apps across the world. Its blockchain technology is utilized for facilitating dApps, and it also addresses the scalability issues and introduces the Proof-of-History consensus algorithm. Solana hybrid’s protocol focuses on reducing the transaction time of the network, decreasing the validation time of both smart contracts execution and transactions. Solana offers minimal fees and much-reduced network congestion, making it a desirable protocol for introducing dApps, games, and, more lately, NFTs. The transaction fee starts from $0.00001 to $0.00025.
Ripple (XPR) - 1,500 TPS
Ripple (XPR) has a TPS of 1,500 with an average of 3-5 seconds; instead, the transaction costs amount to around $0.0003. It can scale to manage the same throughput as Visa in the future; it is considered the best digital asset for global payments. The XPR protocol operates on an open-source, decentralized P2P network, with 80% consensus required before a transaction can be processed and confirmed. This one-of-a-kind approach has brought its decentralization into doubt.
What do you think about this ranking? Do you know cryptocurrencies with higher TPS?
