I must be missing something here.
According to the Bitcoin Wiki:
VISA can do 8,500 tps.
Paypal can do 100 tps.
Bitcoin can do 7 tps.
A block can contain 1MB of data. 1MB is the equivalent of 1,048,576 bytes.
Stealing from DH's post:
Inputs tend to be approximately 180 bytes, outputs tend to be approximately 40 bytes. There are some additional bytes for overhead in the transaction (transactionID, input_qty, output_qty, etc). A safe assumption would be 50 bytes of overhead.
Sendtoaddress=(40+180+50) bytes
Sendmany=(40n+180+50) bytes, where n is # of outputs
1,048,576-180-50=1,048,346 (block size remaining after overhead & input)
1,048,346/40=26,209 (#transactions able to be included in block assuming one input)
Block target conf. time = 600 seconds.
26,209/600=43.68 transactions per second
Will be lower, maybe 30-35tps - payment processors like BitPay will probably not be able to always send from just one input. However, they're really the only ones in the position to "bulk-pay" outside online wallet services. They also have the ability to design their services to prevent low-value cash-outs by attaching service fees if the person doesn't meet some threshold -- say you arbitrarily charge
BTC.001 if the withdrawal request is for less than
BTC.02.
Payment processors and online wallet services are in a unique to dramatically increase Bitcoin's tps by dramatically increasing network efficiency, allowing more transactions per block, decreasing fees for users, increasing the value of a kilobyte with regards to mining fees (BitPay sure wouldn't want to miss a block affecting 5,000 customers), and decreasing associated costs of an unnecessarily enormous blockchain (bandwidth, storage, processing) and putting off the "we gotta increase the block size again" debate for another couple years.