From Concept to Measurement: A Survey of How the Blockchain Trilemma Can Be Analyzed

arXiv:2505.03768v5 Announce Type: replace Abstract: The blockchain trilemma provides an analytical lens for examining trade-offs among degree of decentralization (DoD), scalability, and security in blockchain systems. However, different aspects of these dimensions are measured in different ways, making it difficult to justify metric selection, compare results across studies, and interpret what a metric value means for a trilemma dimension. Through a review of blockchain-trilemma related literature, we synthesize 12 measurable aspects and 15 metrics for analyzing DoD, scalability, and system-level security in core blockchain systems. We clarify which aspects of the blockchain trilemma dimensions these metrics quantify, when they are applicable, and how their interpretation depends on blockchain system designs and analysis approaches. These results help researchers and practitioners select suitable metrics, interpret metric values, and compare blockchain systems with respect to trade-offs among DoD, scalability, and security.