BPS - what does "10 blocks per second" actually mean?

BPS counts blocks - not transactions

Imagine ten blocks are created in one second.

Each block might contain:

10 transactions,

or 100,

or 200,

or almost none.

So:

10 BPS does not mean 10 TPS.

And it does not automatically mean "ten times more transactions."

To understand transaction capacity, we also need to know how much activity can fit into each block.

Not every transaction uses the same amount of space and work

Even the word "transaction" can hide important differences.

A simple transaction may use money from one source and send it to two outputs.

Another transaction may have more inputs, more outputs, or additional data.

That second transaction uses more resources for the computers that process and verify it.

So there is no single fixed number saying:

"A block contains X transactions."

It depends on the transactions.

A simple Kaspa example

Kaspa's technical documentation includes an example of a typical simple transaction:

one input → two outputs

For example:

Emma uses one amount she controls,

part goes to Liam,

and the remaining change returns to her.

Using the documented calculation, a block filled only with transactions of this simple type could contain about 245 transactions.

Now we can make a simple thought experiment:

245 transactions per block

×

10 blocks per second

=

about 2,450 transactions per second

But this is important:

This does not mean "Kaspa is a 2,450 TPS network"

It means only:

If every block were full, and every transaction were this simple type, this is roughly the number the example would produce.

Real transactions vary, blocks are not always full, and other resource limits also matter.

So this is an illustration of the relationship between BPS and TPS, not a performance guarantee.

What about Bitcoin?

Bitcoin creates about one block every ten minutes on average.

Its number of transactions per block is not fixed either.

A simple Bitcoin transaction can be relatively small. If a block contained only simple transactions of that kind, the rough order of magnitude could be around 7,000 transactions in one block.

Again, this is a simplified illustration, not a fixed number for every Bitcoin block.

The important point is:

You cannot compare networks by block count alone.

Kaspa does not take a "Bitcoin-sized block" and simply create ten of them every second.

Block capacity, transaction type, resource rules, and block rate are all parts of the design.

Look at the same ten-minute period

Over about ten minutes:

Bitcoin → about one block

Kaspa at 10 BPS → about 6,000 blocks

But this still does not mean:

"Kaspa processes 6,000 times more transactions."

It means only:

Kaspa has far more block events during the same period.

To understand actual capacity, we also have to look at what can go inside those blocks.

So what is TPS?

TPS - Transactions Per Second asks a different question:

How many transactions can be processed each second?

It helps to keep the two measures separate:

BPS = how many blocks are created.

TPS = how many transactions are processed.

They are different measurements.

BPS can affect possible TPS, but it does not determine it by itself.

Getting into a block quickly and being confident in a payment are not exactly the same question

Imagine you send a transaction and it appears in a block very quickly.

That tells you it was included quickly.

A different question is:

When is there enough confidence to rely on it?

That confidence also depends on how the protocol orders blocks, how work accumulates, and how much risk remains that the recent ordering could change.

So:

getting into a block quickly and being confident enough to rely on the transaction

are not exactly the same question.

More blocks also mean more work for Nodes

If more blocks are created every second, Nodes have to:

receive more blocks,

check more blocks,

track more relationships between them,

and stay synchronized with the network.

So when a network increases its block rate, ordinary computers still need to be able to keep up.

That matters for decentralization.

If only very powerful and expensive computers can verify the network independently, fewer people can run a Node.

More users then have to depend on large services to verify the network for them.

So the question is not only:

"How quickly can we create blocks?"

It is also:

"How many people can still verify the network for themselves?"

That is one of the questions behind Decentralization.

What should you take from this page?

BPS tells us how many blocks are created each second.

By itself, it does not tell us:

how many transactions can be processed,

how quickly a transaction appears,

or when it is safe enough to rely on it.

And as the block rate rises, Nodes still need to be able to verify everything and stay up to date.