Solana Blockchain Gets Security And Network Performance Improvement

Solana developers will increase security in the network. (Photo; Doc. Publish0x)

JAKARTA - Solana is said to take a unique approach in ensuring network security and performance. Solana founder, Anatoly Yakovenko, replied to a tweet stating that Solana's termination was due to on-chain voting.

Yakovenko explained that the Proof of Stake (PoS) system that Solana uses requires a lot of network communication for validation. To achieve the classic Byzantine Fault Tolerance (BFT) consensus, Solana employs “quadratic messaging overhead,” as quoted by U.Today.

Solana has adopted a highly optimized approach to maintaining the security and performance of their network. Yakovenko explained that Solana uses a proof-of-stake system that requires intensive network communications for validation.

To cope with the overwhelming number of nodes, Solana implemented a sub-committee that maintains a quorum of 200 nodes. However, this approach can impact network performance and security. Nodes are computers or devices that are connected to the blockchain network and have the task of validating, storing, and disseminating data related to transactions on the blockchain.

As additional information, the quorum here refers to the minimum number of validators needed to reach consensus in a blockchain network. Quorums are used to ensure that incoming transactions are truly valid and verified by adequate validators before being recorded on the blockchain. The number of validators required to reach the quorum varies depending on the blockchain system used.

For example, on the Bitcoin blockchain network, the required quorum is 51 percent of the total nodes connected to the network. This means that if 51% or more of the nodes on the network agree to a transaction, then that transaction is considered valid and recorded on the blockchain.

With that in mind, Solana wants to strike a balance between security, performance, and complexity. To achieve its goal, Solana designed its quorum of 2,800 nodes to detect malicious activity by a small number of nodes in its validation sequence. Solana also explains why voting results are implemented as transactions because this method is the most efficient.

While Solana has successfully adopted a unique approach that is highly optimized for security and performance, Yakovenko highlights the challenges associated with maintaining a sustainable network.

Solana needs to strike the right balance between performance, security, and complexity to sustain its future success. Solana needs to handle a large number of messages per round and maintain a balance between performance and security to keep growing.