Ethereum scalability solutions summary

Summary of scalability solutions that can be implemented today to scale transaction throughput. There are other solutions to scalability which include off-chain compute and other scaling vectors, which can also be considered, but will not be directly covered here.

Source: kauri.io

• Off-chain message signing (Meta transactions): sign messages off-chain using ethereum key pairs, store and emit events or pass them p2p to then update an onchain state based on the content and signatures on those messages (e.g. increase # votes, update price oracle)
• State channels: off-chain channel between counter-parties to update states multiple times and update the final state with one on-chain transaction
• Payment channels: off-chain channel between counter-parties to exchange value and transact the resulting net in one on-chain transaction. They are sub-set of State channels
• Side chains x bridges: fully featured side chain anchored to the Ethereum mainnet via bridge contracts and a relay mechanism
• Plasma chains: fully featured child chains that periodically commit the differential of their state tree to the root chain (e.g. Ethereum mainnet)

Reference: kauri.io — Top 5 ways to scale your Ethereum blockchain application (dApp)