08 / 11Beginner
Scalability
Scaling a dapp is not the same problem as scaling a traditional web app, because decentralization brings its own constraints. Below is a short overview of those constraints and why Chromia handles them more easily than other Web3 platforms.
Potential scalability issues in Web3
Platforms such as Ethereum become congested when activity spikes. Block space is limited, so heavy demand produces a queue of unconfirmed transactions and drives fees up. The spike does not have to come from your dapp. An ICO (Initial Coin Offering), a new token launch, or any other event that suddenly floods the network with transactions can trigger it.
How Chromia solves network congestion
On Chromia, each dapp gets its own sidechain, which can process hundreds of transactions per second. A sidechain runs inside a container, and containers belong to a cluster. As your dapp grows, you can add more sidechains to its container or spread it across several containers on several clusters. Throughput stays high as usage increases.
This design also shields your dapp from traffic generated by other dapps. Your dapp has its own blockchain and its own resources, so busy periods elsewhere on the network do not congest it.
Scaling in Web2
- You can usually scale by adding servers or resources to centralized infrastructure.
- Established tooling makes large volumes of traffic and data easier to handle.
- One bottleneck can slow down the entire system.
Scaling in Web3
- Some platforms become congested when demand is high.
- Consensus mechanisms and platform design can limit scalability.
- Chromia's sidechain architecture removes the network congestion problem so dapps can scale.
Scalability example
Consider a social media app similar to Reddit. More users, views, and posts mean more load. A Web2 app can absorb that load by adding backend resources, but a Web3 app has fewer options. On Ethereum and similar platforms, optimizing your smart contract helps only up to a point, because you are bound by the network's shared resources and throughput.
Chromia lets you scale horizontally instead. When users and posts increase, you deploy more sidechains. Each one is a logical replica of your dapp with a blockchain of its own.
Your dapp architecture has to be designed for this approach. In the Reddit-style app, you could place different subreddits (forum topics) on separate sidechains, each with dedicated resources. The client then routes requests for a given subreddit to the matching sidechain. The result is a load-balanced dapp with far better scaling prospects than you would get on other Web3 platforms.
The next topic is security, including why Web3 is inherently more secure than Web2.