Blockchain analysis
Introduction
Introduction
TON
TON is a multi-chain project that supports a wide range of transactions.
Ethereum
In 2022, Ethereum underwent a significant upgrade, introducing the Beacon Chain with up to 64 shard chains. However, this upgrade offers limited cross-chain communication.
Solana
Solana is a single-chain blockchain designed for high-speed, specialized transactions.
Comparing TON, Ethereum, and Solana
Block time
Time-to-finality
Simple transaction performance
Complex transaction performance
Sharding support
Cross-shard communication
TON
Max. 260 shards per workchain
Max. 260 shards per workchain
Max. to 26 shards
Block and finalization time
Block and finalization time
TON
TON creates a new block on each shardchain and the masterchain roughly every 5 seconds. Blocks on all shardchains are made almost at the same time, while the masterchain's block, containing the latest shardchain block hashes, follows about a second later.
Ethereum
Ethereum uses slots and epochs to manage time. A slot lasts 12 seconds, during which a validator can propose a new Beacon Chain or shardchain block. An epoch consists of 32 slots, totaling 6.4 minutes. Block finality in Ethereum requires at least two epochs, leading to a minimum time-to-finality of 12.8 minutes.
Solana
Solana claims to create one block every second or faster, but it has a longer block finalization process. A block typically finalizes after 16 voting rounds, each round taking about 400 milliseconds, leading to a finalization time of approximately 6.4 seconds.
Performance
Performance
TON
TON is a Turing-complete, high-performance blockchain designed to handle complex transactions on both its masterchain and all workchains.
Ethereum
Ethereum's Turing-complete EVM operates on the Beacon Chain, capped at 15 transactions per second. The absence of cross-shard interactions restricts additional transactions from being processed in a fully decentralized manner.
Solana
Solana, while Turing-complete, excels primarily with a high volume of simple, predefined transaction types that only modify account balances. Its performance is optimal when all account data fits into RAM; deviations from this can lead to operational issues.
Scalability
Scalability
TON
TON features workchains and dynamic sharding, allowing for up to 232 workchains. Each workchain can split into as many as 260 shardchains, facilitating nearly instant communication across shards and chains. This structure enables the processing of millions of transactions per second.
Ethereum
Ethereum will support up to 64 shardchains and the Beacon Chain. At this stage, it is unclear what the exact capabilities of the new 64 shardchains will be and how the shardchains will interact with one another. However, if messaging among shardchains is ever introduced, one would have to wait for 10–15 minutes until the finalization of the shardchain block originating a message before that message can be processed on another shardchain. Furthermore, the additional shards are currently not supposed to be able to run EVM smart contracts at all. Instead, they are supposed to be used as additional data storage in a distributed ledger.
Solana
Solana does not support sharding or workchains.