Having Experienced Obstacles, Solana Gercep Increases Network Speed

Solana overcomes network congestion. (Photo; Doc. ChinaDeFi)

JAKARTA Solana, a blockchain platform known for its affordable speed and transaction fees, is now taking a major step by launching a network update aimed at addressing one of its biggest challenges: network bottlenecks. On the same date, Anza, which is a division of Solana Labs, announced a major update release marking a new chapter in Solana's evolution in the crypto industry.

The update, codenamed version 1.17.31, introduces Stake-Weighted Quality of Service (SWQOS), an innovation designed to give priority to transactions involving validators who have staked. Validators who have invested their SOL tokens into the network, support their operations, will now benefit from a faster and more reliable transaction process. This is a step that is expected to significantly improve network efficiency and stability.

The Garcia team, which leads the relationship of validators at the Solana Foundation, describes SWQOS as a network strategy that prioritizes transmission of certain data or connections to strengthen reliability and performance. Currently, as much as 80% of the network's capacity is intended for transactions that get these priorities, ensuring a smooth user experience when transacting through validators who have been staked.

Even so, this update has limitations. Anza stressed that the impact of SWQOS will be even more pronounced along with the increase in users adopting this system. On the other hand, transactions that do not involve staking, which account for 20% of the total network traffic, may not feel the same improvement.

Trent.sol, the core developer at Anza, suggested that the validator carefully upgrade, especially when less than 5% of the funds being set offline. He also suggested validators to closely monitor their nodes post-renewal to ensure there are no operational disruptions.

This update is only the first step in an effort to address Solana's problem of network congestion. Rex St. John of Anza called it the first turn' in a series of solutions, with further improvements planned for the upcoming release of v1.18. Technical documentation available on GitHub explains in detail about changes in handling the hacked and unstaking data packets, as well as optimization on the BankingStage Forwarding Filter which is essential for network efficiency.

Solana's ability to manage high transaction volume has always been a topic of debate. Unlike other blockchains, Solana does not have traditional mempools, which are temporary storage areas for waiting transactions. Although this allows faster processing, this update has the potential to cause network bottlenecks during a period of high activity. The launch of version 1.17.31 is a crucial moment for Solana.