10,000 transactions per second are enough, so why can't existing blockchains support 24/7 finance?

Asset tokenization is booming, but recently Solayer Labs Product Lead Joshua Sum poured cold water on the enthusiasm: blockchain infrastructure is far from meeting the needs. He pointed out that existing blockchains have three critical issues that directly hinder institutional-level trading. To achieve a truly global 24/7 financial market, the industry needs to fundamentally rebuild its infrastructure.

Current Situation: Three Major Flaws Holding Back Institutional Finance

The problems facing the blockchain industry cannot be solved with minor fixes:

These three issues compound, making institutional trading almost an “impossible task.” Imagine institutional investors accustomed to second-level execution and fair ordering in traditional finance suddenly operating on a blockchain with high latency and easy arbitrage, and the experience would be terrible.

Technical Requirements for Solutions

Sum emphasizes that merely optimizing existing systems is not enough; a fundamental rebuild is necessary. What are the specific targets?

• Throughput: Over 100,000 transactions per second (TPS)
• Confirmation speed: Final confirmation within sub-second latency
• Transaction ordering: Fair and transparent, preventing algorithmic arbitrage

These targets seem extreme, but in the context of a global 24/7 financial market, they are actually reasonable. Traditional financial markets handle enormous daily trading volumes, and if blockchain is to support genuine global financial transactions, these are starting points, not the end goals.

What Does This Reflect?

The True Dilemma of Asset Tokenization

Asset tokenization is making progress, but faster progress does not mean infrastructure is keeping up. Currently, most efforts are small-scale pilots and proof-of-concept tests. Large-scale institutional capital entry requires infrastructure capable of handling massive transaction volumes.

Blockchain Is Still Far from Mainstream Finance

This is not an issue with any particular project but a common challenge across the entire industry. Mainstream public chains like Ethereum and Solana are optimizing performance, but achieving stable operation at 100,000 TPS still requires time.

Opportunities for Next-Generation Infrastructure

Sum’s discussion also points to a direction: whoever can develop a blockchain network that meets these requirements may become the gateway to institutional finance. This presents opportunities for Layer 2 solutions, new public chains, and even application-specific chains.

Summary

This insight from Solayer Labs hits the industry’s real pain points. Asset tokenization is not lacking in concepts; what’s missing is infrastructure capable of truly supporting a global 24/7 financial market. Throughput, latency, and MEV are not minor details but fundamental obstacles that determine whether institutional investors are willing to adopt blockchain at scale. This means that upgrading blockchain infrastructure is not just a technical race but a key move to capture the institutional financial market.