What is a Mainchain?
The mainchain is the foundational layer of a blockchain network where all transactions are processed and finalized. It acts as the central ledger that validates and secures activity across the ecosystem.
While additional layers or applications can be built on top, no transaction is considered fully confirmed until it is recorded on the mainchain.
This makes the mainchain one of the most critical components of any blockchain system. It provides a secure, immutable base for ensuring data integrity, and its ongoing upgrades often introduce improvements in privacy, decentralization, and functionality through the layers and applications built upon it.
How Does a Mainchain Work?
The mainchain, also known as the parent blockchain, is the core layer of any blockchain system. It links all blocks and processes every transaction.
Even when actions happen on secondary layers—like Bitcoin's Lightning Network—the final confirmation must occur on the mainchain.
Once stored, data on the mainchain is immutable. This ensures transparency, security, and trust through cryptographic validation.
As the foundational layer, the mainchain is regularly upgraded. These updates improve privacy, decentralization, and support for advanced applications built on top.
Limitations of Mainchain
The mainchain processes and validates every transaction to ensure maximum security. But this comes at a cost: high computational demand and slow speeds, especially as network usage grows.
These bottlenecks make the system less efficient and scalable. To address this, blockchain developers have introduced solutions like sharding and sidechains.
Sharding breaks transaction validation into smaller, parallel processes across multiple nodes, making the system more manageable and faster.
While sidechains offload some of the traffic, sharding complements them by optimizing how the network handles validation.
Together, these approaches aim to overcome the mainchain’s performance constraints without compromising its core security features.
Mainchain vs. Sidechains
A blockchain's mainchain is its core layer, but it has inherent performance limitations like low throughput and small block size. These constraints can slow down transaction processing and reduce overall efficiency.
To improve performance, many networks use sidechains—independent blockchains linked to the mainchain via a two-way peg. This mechanism allows assets to move back and forth between layers, easing the load on the mainchain.
Sidechains offer faster transaction speeds, greater scalability, and more flexibility. However, for full validation and finality, transactions must still be recorded on the mainchain.
A prime example is Bitcoin’s Lightning Network, which handles high-speed microtransactions but ultimately relies on the mainchain for settlement.
