Ethereum has long been plagued by scalability issues, resulting in high gas fees and slow transaction processing during periods of high activity. The main culprit behind these limitations is the sequential nature of Ethereum’s runtime environment, the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). While the EVM has been reliable, it processes transactions one at a time, leading to longer waiting times and increased costs.
To address this issue, various initiatives have been launched, including alternative Layer 1 chains like Solana and Layer rollups such as Arbitrum and Optimism. However, a more novel solution gaining traction in the DeFi community is parallel EVM chains like Sui, Meter, and Nomad. These chains introduce DApp building ecosystems that can process multiple smart contract transactions simultaneously.
In the traditional EVM model, transactions are processed sequentially. In contrast, parallel EVM models allow multiple transactions to be submitted and processed simultaneously, reducing waiting times and gas costs. This parallel processing concept is similar to how multi-core CPUs can execute independent instructions at the same time, enhancing processing power.
There are two main approaches to EVM parallelization: optimistic parallelism and the state access method. Optimistic parallelism assumes that transactions are independent, but conflicts may arise after execution. The state access method proactively sorts transactions into dependent and independent categories, allowing for sequential execution of dependent transactions while processing independent transactions simultaneously.
Several DApp-compatible blockchains are already implementing parallel EVM chains to solve Ethereum’s scalability limitations. Sui, with a TVL of $751 million, utilizes the state access method and an object-centric data model to enhance transaction ordering. Meter integrates parallel transaction submission and features a crypto optimized database for improved performance. Monad, on the other hand, leverages optimistic parallelism and boasts support for over 10,000 transactions per second.
While some may argue for migrating to cheaper DApp ecosystems, Ethereum remains the dominant smart contract blockchain. Therefore, it is more logical to develop scaling solutions that improve Ethereum’s core functionalities and address multiple challenges simultaneously. By enhancing EVM compatibility and enabling parallel transaction processing, Ethereum can overcome its scalability issues and pave the way for mass adoption in the DApp ecosystem.