Saga CEO discusses scalability challenges, solutions

Rebecca Liao of Saga addresses blockchain scalability, citing Solana’s challenges and the quest for solutions amid network congestion.

As platforms like Solana grapple with congestion issues, scalability remains a critical concern, prompting the search for innovative solutions to overcome challenges.

Liao provided insights into the scalability challenges blockchain platforms such as Solana (SOL) face.

“Any monolithic chain, whether it’s Ethereum, Solana, or any other single chain in which applications have to share blockspace with one another, will face scalability issues once it receives appreciable traffic,” Liao said. “Congestion on Solana, in particular, means transactions will fail, even if the gas fees remain very low.”

Liao clarified that Saga is a Layer 1 platform, enabling multiple Layer 1 networks to launch for horizontal scalability. The CEO explained that each Chainlet, the support required to deploy a dedicated blockchain within Saga, operates as an independent, proof-of-stake chain. Liao also pointed out Saga’s costless transactions feature, highlighting that end users are not charged gas fees from the protocol.

Liao attributed network congestion in existing blockchain platforms to the nature of monolithic chains, explaining that they face congestion because all their applications and users are on the same chain.

“Monolithic chains are subject to congestion because all their applications and users are crowding onto the same chain,” she said. “Saga gives dedicated blockspace to all its applications and their users from the beginning and allows them to add blockspace at will while maintaining composability.”

Discussing Saga’s potential influence on the future of blockchain scalability solutions, Liao emphasized three critical aspects: the automation of full chains, cheap transactions, and quick bridging between ecosystems. She asserted that applications must be built on a base protocol incorporating these features for effective scalability.

Additionally, Liao underscored Saga’s innovations in optimizing services like RPC endpoints and block explorers to address chain congestion, stressing the importance of such optimizations for scaling solutions from now on.