- Solana congestion issues have been a setback for the ecosystem projects and have hindered its mass adoption, but the Devshop Anza release promises a timely fix.
- Solana’s SOL promises great returns based on its technological prowess as well as growing institutional interest.
Solana is undertaking a new upgrade designed to fix its congestion issues. Network congestion has been a key setback for ecosystem projects and has led to network outages which continue to tear down its reputation. Earlier this week, Solana-focused devshop Anza released an update that fixes this problem, promising efficiency and fast transactions for the network.
Solana’s recent struggles with transaction delays and failures (reaching up to 75%) caused a plunge in the value of meme coins built on its platform, such as dogwifhat (WIF), BOME, and MEW. This drop in confidence then triggered a sell-off in other parts of the cryptocurrency market.
Anza, the development group focused on Solana tooling, has deployed a potential fix to the testnet. This update, version 1.18.11, targets issues stemming from a combination of Solana’s QUIC implementation, a data transfer protocol, and the behavior of Anza’s own Agave validator client.
Anza is requesting testnet validators to upgrade and participate in analyzing the effectiveness of the solution. Importantly, this update is currently isolated to the testnet, not the main Solana network. Anza developers anticipate a two-day rollout period on the mainnet once the testnet phase proves successful.
This news comes alongside comments from Austin Federa, head of strategy at the Solana Foundation, who acknowledges the software’s limitations in handling the current transaction volume and technical debt within Solana’s architecture. Anza’s efforts, along with collaboration from other developers, aim to diagnose and address these bottlenecks for improved overall network performance.
As CNF recently reported, Solana’s network activities surged as active participants increased to 932k in March, from the 426k recorded in February. Furthermore, the Solana network recorded a staggering 2.4 billion transactions in the first quarter of 2024. Despite the network failures, the meme frenzy is the reason for the incredible surge in transaction numbers, leading to a higher fee revenue for the network.
Solana (SOL) Price Rebound Imminent
Although the new fix is a welcome update, Solana’s SOL has been struggling. At the time of writing, SOL is down by 6% and trading for $142. After plunging 21% on the weekly chart, investors are concerned about the asset drifting away from the $200 mark.
A decline in Solana’s futures Open Interest (OI) suggests reduced trading activity from futures traders, possibly coinciding with the recent expiry of crypto options contracts. This lack of participation could lead to a further drop in SOL price as trading volumes remain low.
The upcoming Bitcoin halving and increased institutional interest in SOL continue to offer a bullish outlook for the altcoin.