Tezos, a layer-1 proof-of-stake blockchain, has successfully activated its 20th protocol upgrade, named "Tallinn." The update significantly enhances network performance by reducing base-layer block times to six seconds, cutting storage costs, and lowering latency for faster transaction finality.
Key Improvements in the Tallinn Upgrade: The upgrade introduces two major technical advancements:
1. Enhanced Validator Participation: All network validators (called "bakers") now attest to every block, a change from previous versions where only a subset participated. This is enabled using BLS cryptographic signatures, which aggregate many signatures into one per block. This reduces node load and sets the stage for even shorter block times in the future.
2. Optimized Storage Efficiency: A new address indexing mechanism eliminates redundant address data. According to Tezos representatives, this improves storage efficiency for applications on the network by a factor of 100, substantially lowering operational costs.
Context: The Broader Push for Blockchain Scalability
The Tallinn upgrade reflects a wider industry effort to create faster, higher-throughput networks that can support more transactions per second (TPS) and reduce settlement times for diverse use cases.
· First-Generation Limits: Early networks like Bitcoin (~7 TPS, 10-minute blocks) and Ethereum (~15-30 TPS) face inherent scalability challenges on their base layers, making them less suitable for everyday payments and high-frequency commerce.
· Scaling Solutions: These limitations have spurred the development of Layer-2 (L2) scaling solutions:
· Bitcoin uses the Lightning Network for off-chain transactions.
· Ethereum employs a modular approach, relying on an ecosystem of L2 networks for execution.
· Monolithic Alternative: In contrast, networks like Solana use a monolithic design, integrating all functions into a single layer to achieve high throughput without L2s.
Tezos’s consistent, self-amending upgrade model, as demonstrated with Tallinn, represents its own path toward achieving greater scalability and efficiency directly on its base layer.
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