On-Chain vs Off-Chain

Architecture decisions matter. When should coordination happen on-chain? When should it happen off-chain?

On-Chain Coordination

Pros: Verifiable, immutable, composable. Anyone can audit. State survives service changes.

Cons: Expensive, slow, limited throughput. Every operation costs gas.

Off-Chain Coordination

Pros: Fast, cheap, high throughput. No gas costs. No blockchain delays.

Cons: Requires trust, less verifiable, service-dependent.

The EchoRift Model

Critical state on-chain. Operational state off-chain.

Subscriptions are on-chain (verifiable, composable). Task queues are off-chain (fast, cheap). Attestations are on-chain (auditable). Shared state is off-chain (high throughput).

Decision Framework

On-chain: Identity, subscriptions, attestations, treasury state.

Off-chain: Task queues, message broadcasting, operational state.

The right choice depends on the use case.

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Part of the EchoRift infrastructure series.