Why Tezos chose to scale on-chain, and what that means for users and developers.
Tezos is like a library that reorganized from within than one that expanded out. Why Growth Creates Friction
Walk into a small-town library on a typical day, and you’ll have your pick of chairs. But when a bestseller drops? Suddenly, there’s a line at the checkout desk. Even places built for calm can get overwhelmed. Blockchains aren’t so different.
Think of Tezos as your favorite small-town library. It’s steady. Built for the people who use it. Open to anyone. For a while, that was more than enough. But as more people showed up, things got tight. Suddenly, there weren’t enough librarians or checkout desks for everyone.
This kind of crowding isn’t unique. Ethereum, the big city library, hit this wall years ago. Lines wrapped around the block during every big NFT drop. While Ethereum built extensions called Layer 2 rollups to handle the rush, Tezos took a different approach with Tezos X. It didn’t rush. That may be its style. Patience has limits. People want books today, not tomorrow.
Scaling Without Splitting Off
Tezos X didn’t need to build a whole new wing. It just moved things around, giving it more breathing room. It’s the same space, less hassle. These rollups are smaller reading rooms within the same library. No need to send visitors elsewhere. Everything flows within the same walls.
Here’s what’s happening behind the scenes: If you picture the main blockchain as the library’s official archive, these rollups are smaller reading rooms. They handle the heavy traffic and then tuck everything back into the main archive. The result is quicker service, lower costs, and less waiting around. Users get faster transactions. Builders don’t have to worry about traffic jams.
How Tezos Rollups Actually Work
And these reading rooms are already taking shape. JSTZ brings JavaScript into the mix, making it easier for web developers to build directly on Tezos using the tools they already know. TezLink brings existing smart contracts into rollups, giving them faster speeds and lower costs.
Rollups run faster, cost less, and scale more easily. They handle computations separately, away from the main blockchain, and then securely settle the results onto Tezos (L1). That means apps built with JSTZ or TezLink avoid the traffic jams that can flow down the main chain. They’re fast. They’re affordable. They don’t leave you waiting. That’s the kind of environment developers and users look for. And that draws in different types of people, some who build, some who just come to explore. The Tezos library doesn’t just get bigger. It gets more useful, more surprising, and more alive.
Rollups in action: distributing work without losing cohesion. Scaling Without Panic
Tezos rollups are products of the system itself. That means they inherit Tezos’ security and stability from the start. It’s less like adding a new annex across the street and more like rearranging shelves to use the existing space better.
When I first started using Tezos, sending transactions cost just fractions of a cent. It was so cheap and seamless that nobody even thought about it. Sometimes, costs rose as activity increased, especially during popular NFT drops or major token launches. Not dramatically, unlike Ethereum’s famous congestion, but enough that users occasionally noticed delays or slightly higher fees.
Tezos didn’t throw more machines at the issue or rush a patch. Instead, it leaned into its built-in governance process, letting the community propose, discuss, and vote on network upgrades. One example was the Jakarta upgrade, which improved efficiency by tweaking smart contract execution, and later Nairobi, which sped up block times. Tezos has always addressed congestion issues while lowering network latency methodically through community-driven upgrades rather than emergency fixes.
What’s Being Built on Tezos X
Tezos X continues this careful expansion by using rollups, specialized layers built into the main blockchain, to handle rising activity without losing efficiency. It’s the next logical step in a carefully planned series of upgrades to keep the network responsive, affordable, and user-friendly. With Etherlink, Tezos X also brings Ethereum’s EVM compatibility. We love all builders including our eth friends!
Quiet Progress That Actually Ships
Lately, the shelves at the small-town library look different. Bestsellers that used to only show up in the big city are suddenly in reach. If you’ve already built something for Ethereum, you won’t need to tear it down to bring it here. Most of the work carries over.
Sure, the market’s slow. Prices are down. The hype has gone quiet. But people are still showing up and still building. Tezos X is what steady progress looks like. It’s not flashy. It’s not loud. It’s just thoughtful work to make things better. It’s not promising overnight riches. It’s not yelling, “This changes everything!” It’s making the library easier to use again, no matter how busy it gets.
Progress doesn’t always mean building fast. Sometimes it means making sure the lights stay on and the shelves stay full.
Will it work perfectly? Probably not right away. Nothing ever does. But, given the history of 18 seamless upgrades, it’ll probably be smooth sailing like always. When you make small, thoughtful improvements over time, places become better to visit, easier to understand, and more enjoyable to spend time in. And that’s the goal. Make the library feel open, whether you’re just browsing or building something of your own.
If you’re watching Tezos, you’re not alone!
How Tezos X Handles Growth Without Breaking the Chain was originally published in Tezos Commons on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.