- Solana worked quickly to patch the faults after the 1.14 network update
- CEO Anatoly Yakovenko said that Solana encountered several problems including wrong gas metering, spiraling ram, restart overhead, and more
- On-chain voting was not one of the causes for the network outage, according to Yakovenko
On February 25, the Solana blockchain experienced a slowdown in block production following its most recent 1.14 network update. In response, validators quickly downgraded the software to speed up performance. Solana Labs CEO Anatoly Yakovenko released another statement on February 28 outlining a six-step plan to improve stability as the network continues transitioning.
He posted a Medium blog regarding the patch for the next update. Here, Solana wrote the following:
“Up to the 1.14 release, core engineers were working to fix live problems impacting the network’s speed and usability. These issues included invalid gas metering, lack of flow control for transactions, lack of fee markets, spiraling ram, storage, and restart overhead.”
This includes employing an opposing team that comprises one-third of the Solana engineering team. They will be building additional hooks and instrumentation into the validator code and implementing local fee markets and new tooling to identify and target exploits within their underlying protocols.
The cause of this incident is still under investigation, though on-chain voting was ruled out as a suspect. The community has responded with mixed reactions: some appreciate Yakovenko’s improvement roadmap, while others remain skeptical about past releases being tested sufficiently.
On March 27, Helium Network’s communications protocol aims to migrate onto the Solana blockchain by deploying oracles for faster transactions.
According to the Medium blog, the engineers will begin patching as stated below:
- Before the mainnet-beta upgrade, downgrade the testnet to the current mainnet-beta version and feature-set
- Upgrade the testnet to the release candidate of the new version
- Observe how the testnet migration goes in real-time
- Downgrade the testnet back to the current mainnet-beta version
- Repeat this process while stress-testing the testnet
- Release a new version to mainnet-beta validators for upgrade
SOL Token Performance So Far
Launched in 2020 by Anatoly Yakovenko and his startup lab ‘Solana Labs, SOL has become an increasingly popular choice for decentralized apps (dApps). The token experienced a power spike when it first launched but has since seen varying activity levels over time due to numerous updates leading to stalling blocks and transaction discussions between users and developers alike regarding when they would be fixed optimally.
Despite this turbulent past, the SOL token has retained many dApp startups’ interest throughout 2020-2021, with promises of improved performance through structural updates finally coming into fruition this past month with more than two dozen teams eager to transition onto its blockchain beginning this spring season in 2021.
Solana (SOL) is a cryptocurrency token native to its namesake network, the brainchild of Anatoly Yakovenko and Solana Labs. Since its launch in 2020, the SOL token has become a popular choice for decentralized applications (dApps). The following year, it became one of the best-performing cryptocurrencies in the market, starting in 2021 at $1 and rising beyond $200. Yet, it was also one of the worst-performing altcoins in 2022, plunging from its all-time highest to slightly below $8. It eventually bounced back from December 2022 to February 2023, from $7.96 to $27.01.
