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What is Blockchain Sharding?

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With “The Merge” phase complete, the blockchain community is now turning its attention to the next milestone in Ethereum’s roadmap, namely “Sharding”.

This is an upgrade to improve the scalability of the Ethereum network. Before diving into how the number one blockchain will realize this, let’s unpack some of the basics of blockchain sharding.

The Blockchain Trilemma

Blockchain must have three elements: decentralization, security and scalability.

Decentralization refers to the transfer of control from a central authority to people around the world who can use their computer nodes to manage them.

Security is related to the fact that blockchain is not necessarily 100% secure. Anyone who controls at least 51% of the network can conduct transactions.

The scalability of a blockchain refers to how much a network can grow while keeping transaction speeds at the same level.

The blockchain trilemma states that we can have two of these three elements simultaneously. In any case, we have to leave one of them.

In the case of Bitcoin, For exampleNetwork participants run a full node that verifies per As a result of transactions, we have a secure and decentralized blockchain. But, since transactions run linearly and require confirmation by a large number of nodes, it is not scalable.

On the other hand, high transaction speed (TPS) chains rely on a small number of nodes that must agree among themselves. An example is the delegated proof-of-work consensus used by the WAX ​​blockchain. This method is secure and scalable; howeverIt is not decentralized.

So, what is scalable and decentralized at the same time? A multi-chain ecosystem could be the solution. Here, cross-chain protocols communicate with each other to increase scalability; However, the bridge used for communication is prone to hacks. So, this method can be unsafe.

Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin claims that sharding can achieve all three simultaneously.

Sharing 101

Sharding means dividing the computational load of a blockchain into smaller chains, or shards Each shard chain stores specific blockchain data segments and processes its own transactions.

Shard chains operate independently, and each submits its transaction records to the mainnet at regular intervals. In other words, because they can work simultaneously, nodes validate transactions in parallel; As a result, network speed increases.

Sharding can increase rollup efficiency

Another common method of increasing blockchain scalability is the application of rollups. They increase network speed by bundling many transactions into a single transaction. Unlike sharding, where the mainnet is changed, this is a layer 2 scaling solution. An example is the immutable X that places the zk rollup on its operations.

Although they seem like two competing solutions to the same problem, rollups can actually become more efficient when they are combined with shards.

How to go about Ethereum sharding?

Ethereum will deploy a sharding strategy that centers around the use of rollups. Thus, Layer 2 solutions can also offer lower transaction fees while being backed by the security of Ethereum.

Ethereum will implement a special form of sharding, namely Danksharding, and upgrade in two main steps.

The first phase will introduce “data blobs” to increase rollup capacity. Shards will add additional data to the network without dealing with chain transactions or code. They will increase TPS by synergizing with rollups.

This will be the second step that integrates full sharding. While we don’t have all the details, shards are expected to include code execution in this phase. Each shard will store individual codes, execute them and perform transactions. Cross-shard communication will be implemented to enable transactions between shards.

It is debatable whether the first step can be enough to reach 100,000 tps. Therefore, the second step may be unnecessary.



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