Thread by @psow86

Why #Shimmer & #IOTA use a DAG structure instead of a blockchain for their L1? Well, one of the main reasons comes down to scalability.
🧵 1/7
#Test2Conquer #shimmer

Scalability issues of blockchain can be traced back to the basics of its design - blocks come 1 by 1 and there is a defined block size and block time.
If you know those last 2 values in a blockchain, you can easily calculate the expected TPS. 2/7

So nothing easier than increasing the block size and/or decreasing the block time, right?
Well, no. It is proven that this approach introduces security risks and decreases decentralization, often also impacts reliability (*cough* Solana *cough*). 3/7

So how does the DAG behind Shimmer & IOTA handle this?
1. Asynchronously - there is no block time, transaction is just processed immediately
2. In parallel - there's no need to wait for the previous transaction to finish, it happens simultaneously 4/7

So while the scalability of blockchain is limited by its own design parameters, scalability of a DAG is limited much further away - by the node hardware and/or network throughput. 5/7

Implications:
1. No more insane fees
2. Very fast transactions
3. Efficient use of hardware
4. It enables high scalability without sacrificing security or decentralization - it largely bypasses the blockchain trilemma 👀 6/7

When it comes to the real world mass adoption, blockchain projects (including BTC & ETH) fail miserably.
I think that characteristics of DAG that I mentioned in this thread are among the most important ones to finally succeed. 7/7