The propagation method of public chain networks is actually a performance bottleneck that is easy to overlook.

Many people's imagination of public chains still stays at this stage: receiving a message and forwarding it to all neighboring nodes — this is a typical flood/gossip mode. It sounds simple and crude, but there are many issues. Messages are repeatedly forwarded, redundancy coverage is severe, and bandwidth leaks out like a floodgate opening. The more nodes there are, the more obvious the collisions and congestion become. The final result is: slower confirmations, unpredictable delays, and network-wide congestion causing everyone to freeze.

Some public chains choose a different approach. Instead of "forwarding to everyone," they select forwarding targets based on XOR distance in a Kademlia DHT. Each node only sends messages to a set of "progressively farther" selected nodes, allowing information to cascade across the entire network like a waterfall.

You can think of it this way: it's similar to a modern logistics system. Packages are not sent from point A to all other points directly, but routed through the most suitable transfer stations based on routing and hierarchy, spreading layer by layer. This approach can cover the entire network while precisely controlling costs and efficiency.

The benefits of this "structured distribution" are quite straightforward. First, redundant forwarding is greatly reduced, significantly lowering bandwidth pressure. Second, the probability of message collisions decreases, making propagation delays more controllable and stable. For blockchain scenarios that require serving regulated financial environments or are highly sensitive to delays, optimizing from the network layer is crucial.

The "second-level experience" that ordinary users feel is never just about how fancy the consensus algorithm is. The real underlying skill starts from the network layer — delivering each block, each vote, and each transaction faster and cleaner to where it should go. This broadcasting mechanism is truly like a "route-based logistics," rather than a "shouting in a square."