Sharding could resolve Ethereum scalability trilemma, says researcher

After a successful Ethereum Merge, all eyes are set on the next phase of transition that would introduce key scalability solutions on the platform, including sharding. Market experts believe sharding would be a game changer for the Ethereum network as it could potentially solve the scalability trilemma.

In an exclusive conversation with Cointelegraph, Uphold’s head of research, Dr. Martin Hiesboeck, explained how sharding could pave the way for Ethereum to become a truly global network.

Hiesboeck believes sharding could eventually solve the long-running scalability trilemma of blockchain networks. Scalability trilemma implies that to scale, blockchains usually need to sacrifice one of their three fundamental cornerstones — security or decentralization, with the third one being scalability itself. He explained:

“Sharding is indeed one of the most effective and universal ways to solve the so-called ‘scalability trilemma.’ Not sure it’s sufficient to proclaim it the only true scalability solution, but sharding is definitely among the best ones we have at the moment.”.

In layman’s terms, sharding would introduce parallel processing, enabling secure distribution of data storage requirements and making nodes easier to operate. In the current blockchain processing system, transactions are processed one block after the other, while with the introduction of sharding, the network can process multiple blocks of transactions concurrently.

Using this mechanism, validators that verify certain blocks will publish signatures attesting to the fact that they did so. Meanwhile, everyone else will have to only verify 10,000 such signatures instead of 100 full blocks, which is a significantly smaller amount of work.

Hiesboeck explained that sharding would not only increase Ethereum’s throughput by multifold but also lower the gas fees and make the network more energy efficient. He explained that the energy saving…