Glassnode & ARK Invest Joint Report Ranks BTC, ETH, SOL on Blockchain Trilemma

Glassnode and ARK Invest Release Blockchain Trilemma Comparison Report

Research firm Glassnode and asset manager ARK Invest have jointly published a report titled The Decentralization Spectrum: Design Tradeoffs in Digital Assets, released on September 2, 2026. The report applies the blockchain trilemma framework — the principle that a network can typically optimize for only two of decentralization, security, and scalability at a time — to evaluate Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana across measurable criteria.

Six Dimensions Used to Evaluate Each Network

Rather than treating decentralization as a binary characteristic, the report frames it as a spectrum shaped by deliberate design decisions. The analysis covers six measurable dimensions: ownership distribution, exit fluidity, verification costs, critical resilience, reconstruction costs, and infrastructure distribution.

According to the report’s findings:

• Bitcoin ranked highest overall on the decentralization spectrum across the six dimensions measured.
• Ethereum placed in the middle, balancing multiple tradeoffs across the measured categories.
• Solana demonstrated the strongest performance on throughput-oriented resilience but scored lower on ownership distribution and verification accessibility.

Block Production Thresholds and Validator Counts

The report identified that three entities each crossed the block-production concentration threshold for both Bitcoin and Ethereum. For Solana, the analysis found that 19 validators were needed to collectively exceed the 33% stake threshold used in the study — a figure the report presents as a structural data point, not a value judgment.

Full-Node Hardware Cost Comparison

One of the more concrete data points in the report concerns the estimated cost of running a full node or validator-equivalent setup on each network:

• Bitcoin full node: approximately $289
• Ethereum full node: approximately $730
• Solana RPC node or validator-class setup: approximately $21,478

These figures reflect hardware cost estimates as presented in the report and represent one factor in the broader verification accessibility dimension of the analysis. The disparity in costs is cited as a contributing factor to differences in node participation rates across the three networks.

Core Takeaway from the Report

The report’s central argument is that decentralization should not be evaluated as an on/off characteristic. Instead, each network’s design choices position it differently along a spectrum, and the blockchain trilemma remains a valid analytical lens for comparing those positions. No single network is presented as superior across all dimensions.

Current Market Context

At the time of writing, Solana (SOL) is trading at $98.11, down 4.28% over the past 24 hours. No direct price movement has been attributed to the report’s publication. Bitcoin and Ethereum market data was not included in the available price feed at time of writing.

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