Solana's Struggles: A Closer Look at Network Outages, Congestion and Unmet Promises
Summary:
Despite being marketed as a potential "Ethereum killer," the Solana blockchain has struggled to meet expectations due to recurring network outages and inability to operate effectively at full capacity. The network, which hypothetically can process 50,000 transactions per second, often peaks at around 1,000 transactions in reality, far from its advertised speed. Additionally, the rise of meme coins on the Solana network has contributed to a high transaction failure rate, further eroding user experience and trust in the platform. The credibility of Solana's uptime reporting is also questioned. Despite its current popularity, particularly among retail investors, Solana needs to demonstrate prolonged stability and reliability to gain serious recognition in the blockchain space.
Touted as a prospective "Ethereum (ETH) killer," the Solana (SOL) blockchain, to date, hasn't lived up to expectations. Theoretically touted for its speed and scalability, Solana's network has, in reality, been plagued by continual systemic disruptions. Solana's ability to handle full network capacity has time and again been found lacking. It claims to process 50,000 transactions per second (TPS), but only manages to peak at approximately 1,000 TPS in actual conditions — with accompanying delays lasting between 30 and 60 seconds. Impressive for a blockchain, but it's far from advertised speed, rendered moot by chronic network congestion.
As of April, 75% of non-vote Solana transactions were failing due to the proliferation of meme coins on the network. This resulted in an inferior user-experience, eliciting complaints. The spike in bot activities was largely blamed for the rise in transaction failures. This hardly inspires confidence in the network.
When compared to other key blockchain networks, Solana's regular network disruptions truly stand out. A five-hour outage occurred in February before another one in April. It experienced an alarming 58-hour outage in January 2022. In total, since 2021, Solana's network has been disrupted nine times, cumulatively resulting in over 150 hours of downtime. Ryan Rzepecki, founder of Spectra Cities, points to meme coins as the destabilizing factor that's disrupting Solana's fundamental operations, terming it an "existential moment."
There is skepticism over Solana's official uptime reporting. It shows a 100% uptime during months where severe network outages were reported by exchanges, such as Coinbase and its users. Network congestion is, unfortunately, what Solana is best known for. Quite the paradox for a blockchain primarily advertised for throughput and scalability.
Supporters of Solana usually argue that congestion is simply a side effect of popularity. Ethereum had similar congestion issues while Bitcoin increased block size to cope. The belief is, Solana, being the fast and low-cost blockchain, will eventually triumph. But Solana’s issues are more complex and can't be simply shrugged off. Persistent network outages, inability to manage large traffic volumes, and meme coin activities indicate a core functional failure.
Uptime is critical for assessing the reliability of any network. It's a contradiction to label a network suffering from frequent, lengthy outages as high performance. Solana, with its low-cost service, is indeed attractive, particularly to bots and users who tend to overload the network. It also bounced back impressively from its association with the FTX scandal. It's likely to remain popular among retail investors, especially while meme coins are trending. As the cheapest way to launch a meme project, Solana lures users seeking exponential gains and bot activities. However, to be taken more seriously, Solana needs to demonstrate a prolonged period of uptime without significant network disruptions.
In 2018, when Visa’s network was down for 10 hours, it was a notable event that attracted heavy media attention. Visa compensated cardholders and issued an official apology. Solana needs to demonstrate similar reliability, as even a single network outage can be catastrophic. If Solana can fulfill its promises, rather than merely spin them, it stands a chance to deliver on its potential.
Daniel O’Keeffe is a guest author for Cointelegraph, with experience both in PR and investments, he started investing in Bitcoin in 2013. Previously, he worked for J.P. Morgan and State Street for three years as a compliance analyst. He holds a master’s degree in computer science from University College Dublin and a law degree from the University of Limerick. The opinions expressed here belong solely to the author and should not be mistaken as legal or investment advice.
Published At
6/27/2024 6:37:22 PM
Disclaimer: Algoine does not endorse any content or product on this page. Readers should conduct their own research before taking any actions related to the asset, company, or any information in this article and assume full responsibility for their decisions. This article should not be considered as investment advice. Our news is prepared with AI support.
Do you suspect this content may be misleading, incomplete, or inappropriate in any way, requiring modification or removal?
We appreciate your report.