The Great Debate: Scalability or Decentralization?
At BlockShow Asia 2019, a star-studded panel took center stage to tackle one of the most contentious issues in the blockchain community: scalability versus decentralization. With heavy hitters from the industry, the discussion revolved around the nuanced trade-offs and the realities of blockchain technology.
Key Players in the Conversation
The panel featured a diverse lineup of experts, each bringing their own perspective:
- Max Kordek, CEO of Lisk
- Matthew Tan, founder of Etherscan
- Saranya Sriram, technical lead at Microsoft Azure
- Xinxi Wang, co-founder of Litecoin Foundation
Despite the technical nature of the discussion, the panel managed to draw a sizable audience—credit to the magnetism of the speakers involved.
Truth Hurts: No Free Lunches in Scaling
Kordek hit the nail on the head when discussing the challenges of scaling blockchain. He remarked, “Blockchain scalability is a tradeoff. You can’t simply scale a blockchain for free. This is why I always laugh when I hear about projects promising 50,000 transactions per second.” His humor didn’t just lighten the mood; it was a sobering reminder of the realities of the tech.
Decentralization: The Non-Negotiable
Xinxi Wang chimed in, sharing Litecoin’s principled stance: “At Litecoin, we always choose decentralization and security over scalability. Unfortunately, we can’t do both, but we try to find something in the middle.” It seems like the struggle is real—pick your poison, folks!
Redefining Scalability
Matthew Tan raised an important point that rocked the panel: “First of all, we need to define what scalability means. Are we talking about infinite scalability? There is no reason to do that.” The panelists all shared a common goal: finding the happy medium between scalability, decentralization, and security. Sounds like a balancing act worthy of a circus!
A Quiet Panel After All?
For an event packed with insightful thoughts and spirited discussions, the audience’s engagement was surprisingly muted. Despite the myriad of strong opinions, the panel ended without a single question from those in attendance. Maybe they were all too busy contemplating the future of finance in the blockchain realm—or perhaps they were just baffled into silence!
