Recently, the Solana network has experienced unprecedented congestion, resulting in a record high transaction failure rate. According to Dune Analytics, as of April 4, more than three-quarters of "non-voting" transactions on Solana have failed. This unprecedented high failure rate reflects the huge challenges facing the network, and effective measures need to be taken to alleviate congestion and ensure that transactions can proceed smoothly.
The surge in failed transactions coincided with a significant increase in network activity, largely driven by the recent craze for memecoins on the platform, causing Solana’s transaction volume and number of unique users to skyrocket.
The issue has sparked widespread discussion in the Solana community, with users expressing their dissatisfaction with failed transactions and deteriorating user experience on social media.
During this crisis, Helius CEO Mert Mumtaz, an active supporter of Solana, responded to the growing concerns of the community by speaking through the X platform. Mumtaz believes that the reported 75% transaction failure rate is a misreading of the health of the network, and pointed out that the vast majority of failures can be attributed to "bot spam" rather than real user transactions being hindered.
Mumtaz provided a detailed explanation and an analogy with Web2 operations to clarify the nature of these "failed" transactions. According to him, many failed transactions are due to situations where the smart contract on the blockchain deems the request invalid for various reasons (such as lack of permissions or changes in market conditions), rather than problems with the blockchain itself.
Mumtaz’s explanation aimed to clarify the difference between different types of transaction failures, stressing that the main concern is transactions that fail to reach the blockchain due to capacity constraints of block leaders. He argued that the real problem is not Solana’s processing capacity, but the excessive volume of junk transactions.
“The graph (referring to failed transactions) does not accurately capture the user experience because the vast majority of problems occur before the transaction is even included in the block,” explained Mumtaz. He assured the community that steps are being taken to address these challenges, including improving transaction processing and introducing better incentives to curb spam activity.
Solana’s “Moment of Do or Die”
Spectra Cities founder Ryan Rzepecki weighed in on the situation, likening it to Solana’s “existential moment,” comparing its severity to the aftermath of the FTX debacle.
“The whole idea of Solana comes down to whether different applications can share the same chain, and whether composability is more important than sovereignty,” Rzepecki said. “For this to work, memecoin transactions cannot disrupt payments, governance, decentralized finance, and everything else. This is an existential moment as big as the FTX debacle.”
Despite acknowledging the growing dissatisfaction among users and ecosystem partners, Rzepecki ended with an optimistic tone, expressing confidence in the Solana community's ability to resolve these issues. "To be clear, I am confident that these are solvable issues. But with the way things are going, Solana is losing the confidence of its users and key ecosystem partners every day."
Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko responded, providing a nuanced perspective on the current challenges.
“The interesting thing is that every scaling challenge is an existential challenge,” Yakovenko said, while acknowledging the severity of the situation.
He further elaborated on the complexity of dealing with congestion issues, contrasting it with a total system failure: "Dealing with congestion is much worse than dealing with a complete active failure. The latter is a one-off, and once the bug is found and fixed, blocks continue. The former must go through a full release and testing process. A quick release is impossible."
The response from Yakovenko and the Solana developer community reflects a combination of realism and optimism. The community’s determination to address underlying issues and improve network infrastructure is palpable, highlighting their collective efforts to ensure Solana’s durability and success in the face of unprecedented challenges. #Solana #网络拥堵
