Trilemma

#explainblockchain

♻️ A trilemma is a polemical argument with three mutually exclusive premises that cover the options available. In everyday speech, the use of the word means that all choices are difficult to accept, and the choice is made on the principle of “the lesser of three evils”

⚠️ A typical example of a trilemma from everyday life: fast, high-quality, cheap. In this case, a maximum of 2 indicators can be met: fast, cheap, but NOT high-quality. Fast, high-quality, but NOT cheap, or fast, cheap, but NOT high-quality.

⛓ The trilemma in blockchains describes the compromises that the creators of cryptocurrency projects have to make in order to optimize the structure of the blockchain.

Simply put, you can’t do everything at once.

This trilemma was first voiced by Vitaly Buterin and Trent McConaughey.

❌Blockchains cannot have all three properties at the same time:

✅Decentralization
✅Scalability
✅Safety

It is difficult to create a blockchain platform with three equally developed aspects. Users and developers have to choose and optimize a maximum of two components out of three.

❕ Potential solutions

There are several ways that developers are trying to solve the trilemma, namely “second-level” scaling and new matching mechanisms.

❗️ For example, DPoS is a matching mechanism that brings us closer to solving the trilemma. Due to the limited, but quite a large number of nodes participating in the consensus, the issue of scalability with high security and decentralization is solved.