Decentralization has a cost

Ethereum's base layer, or Layer 1, processes roughly 15 transactions per second. A single payment network like Visa handles thousands. This isn't a bug, it's the direct cost of having thousands of independent computers verify every single transaction instead of trusting one fast, centralized server.

When demand for block space spikes, users bid against each other with higher gas fees to get included, and fees can spike to tens of dollars per transaction. For a chain meant to serve billions of people, that's a real ceiling on who can actually use it.