What is Polygon?

Polygon is a “layer two” or “sidechain” scaling solution that runs alongside the Ethereum blockchain — allowing for speedy transactions and low fees. MATIC is the network’s native cryptocurrency, which is used for fees, staking, and more. You can buy or sell MATIC via exchanges like Coinbase.

To learn more click here

Methodology:

In this dashboard I am going to be looking at the time between blocks and the transactions per block on Polygon, Flow, and Optimism. I am going to be comparing them across the same metrics to see how each blockchain function and preforms against one another.

Polygon Metrics:

1. Minimum Time Between Two Blocks In Seconds
2. Maximum Time Between Two Blocks In Seconds
3. Daily Average Time Between Blocks In Seconds
4. Average Transactions Per Block

Polygon Analysis:

If we look at the first metric in the top we can see the daily average time between two blocks on Polygon as you can see the time tends to be anywhere from 2-2.5 second per block, although as of recent there have been more spikes and dips that see than usual. If we look to the right we can see the largest and smallest time between two blocks the smallest time recorded is 2 seconds and the largest is 25 seconds, although it appears that the average time stays much closer to the minimum than the maximum. If we move to the metric in the top right corner we can see that there are roughly 75 transactions a block we look into the next sections to see this compared to other L1s and L2s.

Flow Metrics:

1. Maxiumum Time Between Two Blocks Seconds
2. Daily Average Time Between Blocks In Seconds
3. Average Transactions Per Block

What is Flow?

Flow is a blockchain designed to function with high scalability without using sharding techniques. With this, users on the blockchain can carry out cheap and fast transactions. The blockchain was designed explicitly for dApps that need a very high scaling like NFT platforms. Crypto play to earn games have also tapped into the usage of the blockchain, providing its users with a swift gaming experience. Dapper Labs created the blockchain after a few issues surrounding congestion on its previous blockchain, Ethereum. The blockchain now hosts an array of crypto games, including the NBA Top Shot, a game that its parent company developed. Developers who intend to create dApps can also tap the blockchain due to its high scalability and swift performance

Flow Analysis:

If we look at the first graph right above we can see the average time between blocks on Flow is much more consistent than that of Polygon typically staying at around 1.3 to 1.4 seconds between blocks, although it has seen spikes that go much larger. Additionally the block time is much smaller about half that of Polygon. If we move to the right we can see that the largest time between blocks was 90 seconds which is likely what caused the massive spikes in average time between blocks. Finally if we look on the metric on the right we can see transactions per block, as you can see Flow processes about 1/6 of the transactions per block as Polygon at around only 13.

What is Optimism?

Optimism features a bridge that connects the Ethereum mainnet to its Layer 2 network, making it easier for developers to build Ethereum-native decentralized applications (dApps).Optimism is based on four pillars: simplicity, pragmatism, sustainability, and optimism. By leveraging a simple design, Optimism mitigates the time and money needed for engineering, allowing it to direct its energy toward developing new features instead of recreating existing ones. For simplicity, Optimism uses tested Ethereum code and infrastructure where possible.

For more information click here

Optimism Metrics:

1. Maximum Time Between Two Blocks In Seconds
2. Daily Average Time Between Blocks In Seconds
3. Average Transactions Per Block

Optimism Analysis:

If we look at the first graph right above we can see the average time between blocks was increasing until around July 9th after which is began to trend back downward, it has seen lows of less than .5 seconds and highs of over 1.5 seconds although it tends to stay around 1 on average. If we move to the top right corner we can see the the largest it has ever spiked in a 58 seconds much larger than the average. Overall Optimism seems to process blocks faster than Flow and Polygon. If we look at the final metric in the bottom right corner we can see the the average transactions per block on Polygon is 1, which seems unlikely and thus raises suspicions about problems within the data.

Conclusion:

1. Optimism the the fastest in terms time per block although it seems to process the least transactions per block.
2. Polygon on average takes double the time as flow to process a block but each block on Polygon has about 6x as many transactions as Flow thus overall it seems Polygon is faster in terms of block processing speed.
3. Flow has stayed consistent over time in terms of time between blocks.