Ethereum explores a fix for blockchain's performance problem

So far, Ethereum is exploring two possible fixes for the problem. The first, "sharding," would require a small percentage of nodes to see and process every transaction, allowing many more transactions to be processed in parallel at the same time; sharding also isn't expected to diminish the native security of a blockchain because it maintains "most of the desired decentralization and security properties of a blockchain," Buterin wrote.

The second solution involves creating data-link layers or "layer 2" protocols that send most transactions off-chain and only interact with the underlying blockchain in order to enter and exit from the layer-2 system, as well as in the case of attacks on the system. Layer 2 protocols transfer data between nodes within a LAN or an adjacent WAN.