It seems that the Ethereum ‘Blockchain Bloat’ Could Reach 1TB In 2017. I found that article interesting, so I decided to do my own research (on this cloudy saturday).
First, according to the source cited in that article, the Ethereum blockchain is currently sitting at 180GB and growing.
I searched around to confirm that, and I found a big discrepency. According to Bitinfocharts it's only 72GB! The Bitinfocharts figure seems more accurate to me. For instance, I can confirm that the Dogecoin blockchain is at 20GB, because I'm hosting it, so 72GB for ETH looks more realistic. By comparing some other cryptocurrencies blockchain sizes, we can still see that Bitcoin is the leader at 142GB.
That's to be expected, since it's the oldest and most popular cryptocurrency.
| Cryptocurrency | First Block |
|---|---|
| Bitcoin | 09/01/2009 |
| Ethereum | 30/07/2015 |
| Dogecoin | 08/12/2013 |
| Monero | 18/04/2014 |
| Litecoin | 08/10/2011 |
| Dash | 19/01/2014 |
On the other hand, if we chart the blockchain average size growth ratio (size/age), we can see an alarming growth rate for Ethereum. Within only two years of its existence, Ethereum blockchain has more than doubled Bitcoin's rate, and is sitting at the top.
This of course is an averaged linear ratio. Based on that assessment, if we project the size of Ethereum's blockchain it would reach over 90GB by the end of the year. Still a far cry from the 1TB claimed by the "experts". However, given the exponential rise in ETH's value in the last month alone, it's possible that the blockchain size might increase exponentially too. If it does, then 1TB may be a likely target.
First, it means we need to be vigilant about claims here and there. What we read in acticles based on some guy's tweet can be feeding us false information (fake news to be precise, not malicious, but lacking a proper researching). That aside, the Ethereum hype continues, and it's obviously generating an additional problem for the future. Currencies like DASH, DOGE and LTC have relatively fast transaction confirmations, could that be related to their smaller blockchain sizes, growing at a steady slow pace? Would a >1TB blockchain affect the network stability and speed? If Ethereum succeeds, will it require a whole datacenter to host its blockchain in 5-10 years? The bloat appears to be a serious issue, and I wonder how the Ethereum developers will deal with that in the future.
I think the Steem blockchain size will grow quickly too, and that is less of the problem for Sterm than for Etherium because of DPOS.
Nice, thanks for the info. Here's a link that explains DPOS.
https://steemit.com/money/@autosmile13/what-is-dpos-delegated-proof-of-stake
Plot steem on it.
Whatever you're doing,
you're doing it very well...
@pocketechange
I can't find any information about Steem's blockchain size. If anyone does, let me know and I'll gladly add it to the plots.
So every time
Block is added the size grows . Doesn't each node has this same size 142 gb per node in case of bitcoin. How is this scalable? It keeps on growing how would ordinary pc act as a node several years from now?
Each node holds the same size and blocks, that's the whole idea of the blockchain. If Ethereum's blockchain keeps growing, it would require more space to host its massive size per node, i.e. less nodes in the future? Unless they come up with a solution to solve that. And that's the dilemma.
Ripple for example solved that problem by using a ledger instead of a blockchain. Check this link for an explanation of how it works
Interesting Article love crypto, For many of us we just want to see a block chain internet and end the Google ,FB,Bull!
Me too. 100% with ya.
Very useful information @drakos
Updating Mist would be hell!
I am still not up to date after one week, such a pain in the ass...
Yes in my readings, I saw that it took a week to synchronize the ethereum blockchain. I guess it's taking more time now.
Nice article. Interesting to see I'm not the only one that is thinking about this. The blockchain is here to stay. No matter what any crypto will do in the upcoming years. I think that's a conclusion we can make by now. Besides coinmarketcap.com there is: https://www.coincheckup.com The site is my go to place for crypto investment analaysis and indepth coin research. Go to: https://www.coincheckup.com/coins/Ethereum#analysis For a complete Ethereum Investment research.