Advanced protocols

In this section, we'll introduce various advanced protocols that have been suggested or implemented for improving the Bitcoin protocol.

For example, transaction throughput is one of the critical issues that need a solution. The Bitcoin network can only process approximately three to seven transactions per second, which is a tiny number compared to other financial networks. For example, the Visa network can process approximately, on average, 24,000 transactions per second. PayPal can process approximately 200 transactions per second, whereas Ethereum can process up to, on average, 20. As the Bitcoin network has grown exponentially over the last few years, these issues have started to grow even further. The difference in processing speed is also shown in the following graph, which shows the scale of difference between Bitcoin and other networks' transaction speeds. The graph uses a logarithmic scale, which demonstrates the vast difference between the...