CoinGecko's recent report reveals that Solana is the fastest blockchain among major networks, averaging 1,504 transactions per second (TPS). This makes it 46 times faster than Ethereum and five times quicker than Polygon, Ethereum's top scaling solution.

Overview of Blockchain Speeds

In April 2023, amid a surge in memecoin activity, Solana reached its highest daily TPS, showcasing its speed. However, despite this impressive performance, Solana is operating at only 1.6% of its potential 65,000 TPS capacity, according to CoinGecko.

Blockchains that don't support the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) typically perform better in speed compared to EVM-compatible networks. Non-EVM blockchains are, on average, 3.9 times faster than EVM ones. For instance, Sui, a non-EVM blockchain, reached the second highest real TPS at 854, driven by its popular game, Sui 8192. Other fast non-EVM blockchains include TON with 175 TPS and Near Protocol with 118 TPS.

On the other hand, EVM-compatible networks average only 74 TPS. The fastest among them is the BNB Smart Chain (BSC), which hit 378 TPS during a high activity period in December 2023. Polygon, the top Ethereum scaling solution, recorded 190 TPS in November 2023, making it 8.4 times faster than Ethereum's mainnet.

Key Highlights

Ethereum and its main scaling solutions, such as Arbitrum, Linea, Base, and Mantle, collectively achieve a total of 500 TPS. In contrast, other notable scaling solutions like Arbitrum and Linea reach 59 and 56 TPS, respectively. Base and Mantle lag further behind with 37 and 25 TPS, respectively.

Most major blockchains reached their highest real TPS in the past year, except Thorchain, which peaked in May 2022. Despite its speed, Solana has faced reliability issues, notably in February 2024, when a significant network outage due to performance degradation caused a temporary halt in transactions, raising concerns about the network's efficiency.

In conclusion, while Solana stands out for its speed, it also faces challenges in maintaining network reliability. This report underscores the varying performances among blockchain networks, highlighting the ongoing competition and innovation within the industry.