Architectural Features

Definition ∞ Architectural features describe the fundamental design elements and structural characteristics of a blockchain system or digital asset protocol. These attributes determine how a system processes transactions, maintains data integrity, and achieves consensus across its network. Key components include block size, consensus mechanism, sharding implementation, and the method of inter-chain communication. These design choices directly influence scalability, security, and decentralization properties.
Context ∞ News concerning architectural features often addresses debates surrounding trade-offs between different design choices, such as the balance between transaction speed and network security. Observing changes or proposals for these features provides insight into a project’s long-term viability and its capacity to meet growing user demands. A critical future development involves the ongoing research into modular blockchain designs to enhance specialization and efficiency.