How throughput, latency, finality, waiting time are defined?

Question

I am confused with the below terms. Could someone explain them in simple terms and confirm that my rationale below is correct?

Waiting Time - Throughput - Finality - Latency - Confirmation Time

I have created the following graph.

I guess when a node propagates a transaction until this is included in a block, this is called waiting time (the period A below). The number of transactions that are included in a block is called throughput. Finality is defined as the period (the period B below) since the tx was included in the Block X0 until the Block X6 was created (i.e., 6 confirmations). Latency (or confirmation time), is called the period from when the node propagated the transaction until the Block X6 was created (the period C below : A + B).

Could someone confirm if this is the real meaning of the terms waiting time, throughput, finality, latency, and confirmation time?

Answer 1

I think some of these terms (e.g. latency) might be used in multiple different Bitcoin settings and hence have different meanings but I can give you my understanding of how each term is typically used.

Waiting Time - The time it takes for a transaction that you broadcast to be included in a block (with a single confirmation).

Throughput - The number of transactions a blockchain can process per second. In Bitcoin's case I think it is approximately 7 transactions per second with blocks mined on average every 10 minutes.

Finality - When a transaction is considered final i.e. it is highly, highly unlikely for a blockchain re-org that would impact that transaction's inclusion in the blockchain. Typically we consider a transaction final when a transaction has 6 confirmations: it was included in a block and 5 other blocks have since been mined on top of that block.

Latency - The time it takes for a transaction to reach a specified destination (perhaps the entire network, a specific miner or all miners).

Confirmation Time - Used interchangeably with Waiting Time. The time it takes for a transaction to be confirmed (and included in a block) from the point you broadcast it out to the network.

Answer 2

I can address some of your questions:

Throughput shows how many transactions per second the blockchain is processing. Right now, Bitcoin processes 2.98 tx/s with a peak at 10.92 tx/s.

Finality refers to the point at which a transaction becomes immutable in the blockchain’s ledger, making it irreversible. While Time to Finality represents the duration required for a transaction to achieve finality within a blockchain network. TTF for Bitcoin is 1 hour.

Also, there is a metric called Block Time. It's the average amount of time it takes for a new block to be added to a blockchain. Right now, Bitcoin block time is 7m 1s.

We track all these three metrics at chainspect.app. So you can easily verify the exact numbers and dig into our in-depth explanations of Throughput (TPS), Time to Finality (TTF), and Block Time.

I hope my explanation answers some of your questions :)