An Experimental Study of Algorand Transaction Throughput and Latency for High Transaction Loads

Abstract

Algorand is a public blockchain platform designed for digital transactions and smart contracts, utilizing an energy-efficient pure proof-of-stake consensus mechanism based on a Byzantine agreement protocol. Despite its potential, its performance under high traffic conditions remains largely unexplored. This study aims to evaluate key performance metrics of Algorand, including transaction throughput, block utilization, transaction confirmation time, block time, and block size, under high load stress to assess the impact of heavy traffic. The network was stressed through two experimental setups: In the first, the nodes sent between 5,000 and 45,000 payment transactions to the Algorand network; in the second, the transaction rate was fixed at 5,000 transactions per second, with stress durations ranging from 2 to 40 seconds. The results demonstrate that Algorand distributes transactions across multiple blocks before the first block reaches full capacity. Transaction confirmation times increased with higher traffic and longer stress durations, occasionally exceeding one minute. Block size and throughput initially increased with higher transaction rates and extended stress periods, but eventually stabilized. This research represents the first comprehensive stress test of the Algorand network under high transaction loads. Future research could focus on identifying and mitigating bottlenecks in the transaction confirmation process to enhance Algorand’s performance further.