Parallelized EVMs Could Address Blockchain Trilemma, Yet Present Significant Risks

According to projections from Fortune Business Insights, the global blockchain technology market is expected to reach $469.49 billion by 2030. Despite the significant potential of blockchain technology, several obstacles may impede its widespread adoption.

One major challenge for Web3 developers and users is the ongoing issue known as the “blockchain trilemma.”

The blockchain trilemma describes the idea that it may be unattainable to fulfill all the promises of blockchain, which include decentralization, security, and scalability. This is due to the fact that enhancing one of these aspects often results in the compromise of another.

Blockchain trilemma.

Let’s educate ourselves on it to understand how it functions in order to safeguard against any manipulation.

The blockchain trilemma is a term introduced by Vitalik Buterin that outlines three primary challenges: decentralization, security, and scalability pic.twitter.com/6v8Vd8XrfQ

— The Crypto YoGi (,) (@Yogi13031997) August 20, 2023

Can Parallelized EVMs Address the Blockchain Trilemma?

Although the blockchain trilemma has been a longstanding issue, innovative solutions are being developed to tackle these challenges.

For instance, parallelized Ethereum Virtual Machines (EVMs) represent a recent advancement aimed at resolving scalability problems affecting the Ethereum network.

Tom McClean, Senior Researcher at the decentralized exchange Vega Protocol, informed Cryptonews that a conventional EVM network—like Ethereum and many of its layer-2 networks (L2s)—requires that all transactions be processed in a sequential manner.

However, McClean pointed out that processing transactions one at a time limits hardware requirements, restricts transaction throughput, and fails to utilize modern advancements in multi-core processing.

“Parallelized EVMs seek to alleviate this issue by executing transactions concurrently, which can theoretically lead to a significant increase in processing speed,” McClean stated. “This could result in a generally faster blockchain.”

Given this potential, Matt Ballensweig, Head of Go Network—a digital asset settlement solution from BitGo—told Cryptonews that parallelized EVMs have the capacity to resolve the blockchain trilemma.

“Parallelized EVMs drastically reduce transaction latency, enable much lower transaction fees, and create opportunities for interoperability,” he noted.

Ballensweig mentioned that platforms such as Neon, Sei Network, and Monad are all developing parallelized EVM solutions to enhance the interoperability and performance of networks like Solana and Ethereum.

Neon Parallelized EVM to Facilitate dApps on Solana

Sukanya Parashar, Senior Integration Engineer at Neon, informed Cryptonews that Neon EVM is the first EVM operational on the Solana mainnet.

Parashar stated that Neon’s parallelized EVM solution allows for concurrent transaction processing without compromising the security and decentralization of the network—effectively addressing the blockchain trilemma.

She explained that this is achievable through a state sharding mechanism, which divides blockchain data into segments.

“This solution aims to eliminate the scalability bottleneck, permitting a higher transaction throughput while preserving a decentralized consensus,” Parashar remarked.

She added that the objective behind Neon EVM is to enable Ethereum-based dApps to be deployed on Solana without requiring any code modifications. This would also allow developers and users to benefit from the scalability and parallel processing capabilities of the Solana network.

“Numerous dApps across decentralized finance (DeFi), non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and gaming have already been launched on Neon EVM,” Parashar stated. “Among these dApps, some are native to Neon EVM while others are existing dApps from the EVM ecosystem that have transitioned to Neon EVM to take advantage of Solana’s liquidity and network benefits.”

This is significant, as Parashar noted that a substantial portion of Solana’s user base, liquidity, and community remains untapped by EVM-based dApps.

Parashar is optimistic that Neon’s parallelized EVM solution can address this, highlighting that Solana is the largest non-EVM ecosystem.

“It ranks as the fourth largest chain by Total Value Locked, with over 20 million monthly active users and a well-established DeFi ecosystem,” she stated. “In essence, we believe that Neon EVM is the simplest way for EVM dApps to access Solana.”

Sei Labs Developing Interoperable Parallelized EVM

Startup Sei Labs has also recently unveiled a parallelized EVM known as “Sei V2.” A blog post detailing the solution states, “Sei V2 is Sei’s first significant upgrade to become the first fully parallelized EVM.”

Head of Marketing at Sei Labs—known as “Grover”—told Cryptonews that Sei V2 already incorporates several unique features.

“The first is ‘Twin Turbo Consensus,’ which enables Sei to achieve the fastest time to finality of any blockchain, providing web2-like experiences for applications,” he explained.

90% of Ethereum transaction time is spent on consensus. Sei’s twin-turbo consensus significantly enhances this process, resulting in unprecedented efficiency.

Explore our recent blog on the twin-turbo consensus and its role in Sei’s Web2-like UX & speed

https://t.co/4wNhxwvNiZ pic.twitter.com/tB0NYLnr90

— Sei (@SeiNetwork) March 21, 2024

Grover added that optimistic parallelization within Sei V2 allows developers to access parallel processing for Ethereum applications without requiring extra effort. This indicates that Sei’s EVM solution is fully interoperable.

Grover further mentioned that the Sei database is a significant upgrade that will ultimately enable Sei to manage a much higher data storage rate. This is essential for a high-performance blockchain.

“The Sei mainnet launch is scheduled for the second quarter of this year,” Grover noted.

Monad Introduces Optimistic Parallel Execution

Keone Hon, CEO and Co-Founder of Monad, informed Cryptonews that “Optimistic Parallel Execution” is one of several key enhancements that Monad has introduced to scale the EVM.

While still under development, Hon explained that Optimistic Parallel Execution can be described in two phases.

“In the first phase, numerous transactions operate in parallel as if they were all commencing from the same initial state,” Hon stated. “For each transaction, Monad executes bytecode, retrieves dependencies from disk, and records a pending result along with the input and output state variables for that transaction.”

In the second phase, Hon clarified that pending results are then finalized in the original order of the transactions.

“Each pending result is immediately accepted if its inputs remain unchanged, or re-executed if any inputs have been modified,” he explained.

Consequently, Hon believes that Monad can achieve the same end state as if transactions were processed sequentially. In other words, this feature will provide significant time savings.

“This guarantees total backward compatibility with Ethereum,” Hon remarked. “Efficient parallel execution necessitates addressing the primary bottleneck for execution, which is state access.”

Hon shared that these optimizations for the Ethereum community will be released later this year.

Risks Associated with Parallelized EVMs

While the potential of parallelized EVMs is considerable, several risks accompany these solutions.

“Although parallelized EVMs offer significant advantages and are rapidly evolving and integrating into the broader ecosystem, certain risks must be carefully managed, such as increased technical complexity and possible security concerns,” Ballensweig stated.

Parashar explained that difficulties in parallel processing arise from the inherent complexity of implementation in computing systems.

“Multitasking and multiprocessor configurations introduce additional points of failure,” she noted. “In blockchain networks, like Solana, parallel transaction execution heightens system complexity, leading to potential bugs and outages.”

In light of this, Parashar emphasized that ensuring accurate state updates across multiple threads is vital to prevent invalid changes.

She added that general challenges related to parallel and concurrent computing amplify complexity, particularly in blockchain networks that incorporate cryptographic elements.

Grover highlighted that the primary challenge for Sei will be upgrading the Sei blockchain network with the forthcoming parallelized EVM features.

“This will be akin to changing the wings on a plane while it is in flight, but Sei Labs is prepared for the challenge,” he stated.

However, Alejo Pinto, Co-Founder and Chief Growth Officer at EVM-product development studio Pontem, expressed doubt.

“Parallelized EVM is an incremental improvement, but relatively untested,” Pinto remarked. “It allows all code developed with EVM to be transferred.”

Thus, Pinto believes that alternative virtual machines, such as parallelized EVMs, still require testing in production environments before developers and users will feel confident in adopting them.

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