Scalability Trilemma
Vitalik Buterin's framing that blockchains trade off decentralization, security, and raw scale against each other.
Coined by Ethereum's Vitalik Buterin, the scalability trilemma says a blockchain can excel at decentralization, security, and scale, but only two at a time. Push hard on throughput and you usually centralize, since fewer powerful machines can keep up.
The framing explains a lot of design fights. Solana chases scale and accepts steep hardware requirements that thin out its node count. Ethereum guards decentralization and security at the base layer, then offloads scale to rollups. Whether the trilemma is an iron law or just an engineering hurdle remains an open debate.
Related terms
A network's capacity to handle more transactions and users without fees and delays spiking.
DecentralizationSpreading control and data across many independent participants so no single party can dictate or shut things down.
Vitalik ButerinThe Russian-Canadian programmer who proposed Ethereum in 2013 and remains its most influential public figure.