Decentralization was the promise of the establishment of a blockchain, but in finance, milliseconds moved the market. As long as Web3 does not match Wall Street’s sub-second speed, users will continue to choose faster rails for traditional finance. This is seen in distributed networks like Ethereum, which handles around 15 transactions per second, compared to Visa’s 24,000.
The world has never looked back since the internet has irreparably changed finance. In fact, speed is a key component that underpins all aspects of how finance operates. This is the difference between closing an arbitrage opportunity, missing it completely, or seeing life-changing funds hit your account just before you miss an important payment.
At the same time, traditional finance remains incredibly opaque, plagued by hidden fees, and is designed to keep the elite minority at the top while everyone else is completely locked up. For blockchain to truly revolutionise today’s systems, the Web3 ecosystem needs to be acquired very quickly to provide alternatives to transparent, open and equitable users.
The chain we have today doesn’t cut it
Bitcoin is the most famous cryptocurrency in existence. This is primarily because it was the first and sparked the idea that the Internet-native exchange system was not tied to any government or country. However, despite international honor, builders cannot ignore that Bitcoin has 10 minutes of block time and can only process 10 transactions per second.
Ethereum improves this slightly, but an average of 14 transactions per second is very slow compared to centralized payment processors. Ethereum trading could also carry high gas prices, a major barrier to widespread adoption. It’s clear how badly the blockchain-based system is lagging when compared to NASDAQ, which handles transactions in the market of the 20,000 shares per second on average.
Furthermore, while the principles of decentralization and trust in blockchain are important, most people don’t care much about decentralization, like performance. Many users prefer centralized systems such as traditional banks and exchanges. This is because it is faster, cheaper and much more efficient.
Despite Ethereum’s decentralized trust, its speed and high cost are serious drawbacks. Simply put, the most widely used chains don’t even compete with traditional products. This means that users need to consider faster, more centralized products to fill the gap.
Speed is a killer function
Now even the most code-born circles are beginning to sacrifice decentralization for speed. For example, a performance-centric chain like Solana with 400 ms block time supports up to 3,000 transactions per second. This is closer to traditional products. This trend is further strengthened by the rise of concentrated platforms such as high lipids.
In May 2025 alone, Defillama said Hyperliquid’s trading volume skyrocketed by 50%, highlighting an increase in traders who prioritize speed over a decentralized spirit.
But despite its incredible momentum, high lipids are not yet the endgame. It relies heavily on open or non-configurable infrastructure, providing only a small fraction of the needs of Defi traders. The platform lacks the scalability and interoperability needed to support the transition to modern financial digital assets on a global scale.
To balance performance and decentralization, projects can employ best practices such as batching transactions to reduce chain load, increase speed to run using off-chain orders, and optimize state differences to minimize gas costs and delays.
The Real Killer app for blockchain technology is a platform that combines decentralization and performance, and is as fast, smooth and inexpensive as centralized alternatives like Revolut. When that happens, there’s no more conversation about “defi vs. tradfi” or “centralization vs. decentralization.”
Instead, we can secure new standards for the financial industry that operates as quickly and seamlessly as the internet itself.
The history is clear. The fastest network is the default. In the case of blockchain, trust alone is not just a moat. Builders that offer Web2 grade speeds without sacrificing openness will own the next decade of finances.
