The Trilemma Still Holds

The blockchain trilemma posits you can optimize for two of three: decentralization, security, scalability. Years of innovation shifted the curves but didn't break the fundamental tradeoff.

L2s are the clearest response. Move execution off L1, inherit security through proofs or fraud games. Scale massively while keeping L1 decentralized. But the L2s themselves often centralize. The trilemma moved, not disappeared.

Sharding tries to parallelize. Multiple chains sharing security. But cross-shard communication adds complexity. Composability suffers. The throughput gains come with coordination costs.

High-performance L1s choose different points. More throughput, fewer validators, higher hardware requirements. The decentralization sacrifice is explicit. Whether it matters depends on your threat model.

I think the trilemma is real but the acceptable tradeoffs vary by use case. Not everything needs maximum decentralization. Not everything needs maximum throughput. Match the design to the requirements.

The innovation continues. Better cryptography, smarter architectures, novel mechanisms. Each pushes the frontier outward. But the fundamental tension between these properties persists. That's just physics.