Sharding

Protocol

Partitioning state or processing to scale throughput.

Sharding divides a blockchain into shards that process in parallel. It boosts capacity but needs strong data availability and messaging between shards.

Frequently asked questions

  • How does sharding help scale?
    It splits work across shards so more transactions can be processed in parallel.
  • What challenges exist?
    Data availability, cross shard messaging, and security coordination.
  • Is sharding live on Ethereum today?
    Ethereum is pursuing data availability scaling first. Follow official updates for roadmap details.