# 1.	Why does MATRIX exist?

The development of blockchain is held back by three obstacles:

**a)    Slowness:** Take Bitcoin for example. An average transaction takes over an hour to verify. This is a hurdle to the promotion of blockchain;

**)    Security issues:** Whether it’s the DAO attack on Ethereum or the many security issues plaguing DeFi projects, tens of thousands of dollars could be at stake. If security should be an issue for crypto assets, then there is no point investing in them.

**c)    Impact on environment:** Take Bitcoin for example. PoW of Bitcoin is nothing but meaningless hash computing that creates no real value for society. According to statistics, 70% of the world’s computing power is consumed to mine cryptos, which is a million times Google’s computing power. Bitcoin mining also consumed more power each year than 260 countries of the world, creating a huge waste.


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