Scroll Appchain vs Scroll Mainnet: Throughput

Guaranteed block space: Your application doesn't compete for resources with other protocols like Uniswap or Aave. This provides predictable transaction inclusion and latency, critical for high-frequency DeFi or gaming. You control the gas limit and block time.

Tailored performance: Implement custom precompiles, adjust gas schedules, or modify state access patterns specifically for your application's logic. This can drastically increase effective TPS for specialized workloads compared to the one-size-fits-all mainnet EVM.

Instant composability: Tap into the aggregated liquidity and user base of the entire Scroll ecosystem. Transactions interact seamlessly with native protocols like SyncSwap, Ambient, and LayerBank without bridging, maximizing capital efficiency.

Battle-tested infrastructure: Benefits from continuous, protocol-wide optimizations to the base layer (e.g., zkEVM proof generation, data availability). Handles the aggregate load of all applications, with current peaks exceeding 100+ TPS and a roadmap for multi-threaded provers.

Guaranteed capacity: Your application has exclusive access to the sequencer and block space, eliminating competition from other protocols like Uniswap or Aave. This is critical for high-frequency applications (e.g., on-chain gaming, order-book DEXs) that require predictable, low-latency execution.

Architectural control: As an appchain operator, you can increase the block gas limit and adjust parameters like block time to maximize TPS for your specific workload. This allows for vertical scaling beyond the mainnet's shared constraints, potentially achieving 1000+ TPS for optimized contracts.

Contained failure domain: Network congestion or a gas spike from a popular NFT mint only affects your application's chain, not the entire Scroll ecosystem. This provides operational stability and simplifies capacity planning, but requires you to manage your own validator set and security assumptions.

Settled on Ethereum L1: Every batch of transactions is proven and finalized on Ethereum Mainnet, leveraging its ~$500B+ economic security. This provides strong, verifiable finality for high-value DeFi applications where security is non-negotiable, at the cost of being bound by L1 batch posting intervals.

Instant composability: Your protocol interacts seamlessly with the entire Scroll ecosystem—liquidity from native DEXs, users from major wallets, and assets from bridges. This reduces bootstrap time and is ideal for general-purpose DeFi and consumer dApps that thrive on interconnectedness, not raw isolation.

Constrained by shared resources: Throughput is limited by the mainnet's batch submission speed to Ethereum and competition for block space from all other dApps. During peak demand, TPS is shared, leading to potential latency. This is the core trade-off for using a managed, secure layer-2.

Guaranteed block space: Your application does not compete with other protocols for L1 block inclusion. This eliminates non-deterministic finality delays and provides consistent TPS for your specific state transitions. This matters for orderbook DEXs like dYdX or high-frequency gaming where latency spikes are unacceptable.

Direct Ethereum finality: Transactions are finalized upon successful verification on Ethereum L1, providing the highest security guarantee. Throughput is bounded by Ethereum's provenance proof verification speed (~12-15 minutes per batch). This matters for bridges holding >$100M TVL or institutional DeFi where security is non-negotiable.