Is Finality Even Real?

Composable: Exploring Crypto’s Building Blocks (an Espresso Pod)

In this episode of Composable, Ellie and Alysia dive deep into one of blockchain's most critical yet confusing concepts: finality. Triggered by a real-world story of someone losing funds due to misunderstanding finality in crosschain transactions, they explore the nuanced definitions of finality, settlement, and confirmations across different blockchain layers.

The discussion reveals how finality is not a fixed concept but rather depends on trust assumptions, application requirements, and the observer's perspective. They examine how different stakeholders, from centralized exchanges to DeFi protocols, make trade-offs between speed and security when defining finality for their users.

Key topics covered:

• Defining blockchain finality
• Finality vs settlement
• Layer 2 finality considerations
• Crosschain composability challenges
• Real-world application examples
• Developer trade-offs and decisions
• Confirmations and block times
• Variable finality factors

Composable is a bi-weekly podcast exploring crypto's building blocks. Hosted by Alysia and Ellie, and brought to you by Espresso.

Find us on X:
Composable — @composablepod
Alysia — @alysiatech
Ellie — @ellierdavidson