Throughput

Throughput is a crucial metric for assessing scalability, reflecting a blockchain's actual compute capacity more accurately than transaction counts, which can vary in complexity (i.e. 21,000 gas for an eth transfer vs 280,000 gas for a simple Uniswap swap). Similarly to how modern storage devices are marketed with specs on read/write speeds rather than the number of files they can process, throughput provides a direct measure of a blockchain's ability to handle compute effectively. Throughput also reveals how close a chain is to its operational limits. This metric is essential for app developers and Layer 2 teams to gauge growth potential, potential cost implications, and performance constraints.