Ethereum and other “Proof of Work” blockchains have a fixed block size. For a block to become part of the chain, every Ethereum miner must execute all of the included transactions on their machine. To expect each miner to process all of the financial transactions for a global financial market is unrealistic.

One actively pursued solution to this problem is a new consensus algorithm, Proof of Stake. Proof of Stake simply replaces mining of blocks, with staking an asset on the next block. An example of malicious behavior in Proof of Stake includes voting for multiple candidate blocks. This action shows a lack of discernment and skews voting numbers, and thus is penalized.