How many transactions per second/hour/day will Monetha be able to handle? It's based on ETH and as I see it, ethereum network has hard times when number of transactions get somewhat significant but it's not even close to what big merchants need. Visa or Mastercard can handle 10+ million transactions an hour. Could you explain please?
Hello Elektibi75, thanks for your question.
We acknowledge the fact that Ethereum at the moment is not as scalable as it should be. But as you probably know, the switch to Casper is coming soon, or it could be a switch to Plasma (read more at: plasma.io), that may solve scalability issues. Switching to Casper will (probably) result in more transactions per second on the Ethereum network. The algorithm also accommodates faster block times compared to using the proof-of-work algorithm currently in place. This will also have an impact on the network’s gas prices, which will increase and decrease based on how much the network’s validators can handle comfortably. At the same time, state channel allows to put more transactions into one block, resulting in decrease of cost per transaction. If Casper and State Channel works as it is promised to work, Ethereum should not face scalability issues. Which results in much cheaper and faster Peer-to-Peer transactions for merchants while utilising the blockchain technology. Which also results in scalable technology on which products such as Monetha can be build.
Even having all these facts above, we still have to acknowledge the fact that the biggest risk is Ethereum being able to deliver on Casper and State Channel technology, because payment gateway (as any other blockchain based companies) needs a scalable blockchain technology to make a real impact.
On the other hand, we should also mention, that Monetha is a blockchain agnostic solution, which basically means that we need a blockchain that has a smart contract capability and which is scalable to run our product. So, in case Ethereum will not able to solve the scalability issues (or even if it will), we will be able to migrate to other blockchains, for example Tezos, or any other blockchain that has solved scalability issues and has a smart contract capability.
To add a point, we think it is very important to start now (and as a result take more risks) in order to be able to take a pole position and be the first mover (as PayPal was in pioneering the online money transfers in the early 2000s) in creating a next generation payment processing solution combined with a decentralised trust and reputation for global commerce. If we start when all the scaling problems blockchain technology now faces are solved, it would be too late.
Regards,
Monetha Team
OK, thanks for details. I will look deeper into plasma.io. Isn't Tenx your direct competitor though? Which means they are slightly ahead of you (but they don't have working product just yet)
