Author: Danny Nelson, CoinDesk; Translated by: Tao Zhu, Jinse Finance
Solana is ramping up testing for Firedancer, a highly anticipated software upgrade expected to significantly increase the blockchain's processing speed.
According to information from the Solana technical Discord server, by this weekend, Solana's core developers hope that the 'vast majority' of processing power on the chain's low-risk test network can be run by the early version of Firedancer called Frankendancer.
The call to Solana validators (the individuals running the computers powering the network) marks the largest test of Firedancer to date. The upgrade has been in preparation since 2022, when the chain frequently encountered failures, which were seen as a boost to Solana's stability and speed.
Supporters of Firedancer believe that the software, developed by the cryptocurrency division of trading giant Jump, will give Solana an unparalleled advantage in the race to attract global financial markets to blockchain. They point to its theoretical speed: one million transactions per second, several orders of magnitude faster than any blockchain-based system today.
The release date for Firedancer itself has not yet been determined. Currently, Jump Crypto has only launched Frankendancer, a hybrid that combines elements of Firedancer and Solana's main client architecture. Before this week, only a small number of validators had adopted Frankendancer; many told CoinDesk that they found it flawed and prone to crashes.
"It’s well known that keeping this thing alive and running is very difficult, but we’ve done it," said long-time member of the Solana validator community Kollen House. He views the new initiative to drive wider adoption of Frankendancer as a sign that the software is 'maturing.'
"If you can confidently say, 'Hey, we want 60% of the testnet running this client,' then we’re getting close," House said.
Crypto networks like Solana are supported by hundreds of individual validators. Each validator independently runs a computer with 'client' software that connects them to the network. This decentralization helps keep the blockchain secure but makes system upgrades harder to coordinate.
For years, the nonprofit organization managing the network, the Solana Foundation, has partially addressed this coordination challenge through subsidies. Its 'Delegation Program' helps smaller validators (those who don't have much staked SOL, thus earning less from their work in validating the chain) remain profitable. It often coerces validators to keep their software updated by threatening to revoke the delegated stakes of those who do not upgrade in a timely manner.
On Tuesday, the Solana Foundation used this subsidy 'carrot and stick' policy for the first time to directly promote the adoption of Frankendancer. Validators had only a few days to switch their testnet systems to the new client; otherwise, they would lose their delegated stakes.
"At the moment, they seem to have reached their goal," said validator operator Jon, who indicated he has been running Frankendancer for several months. "Currently, about 30% of validators on the testnet are running Frankendancer, but they still believe they have not reached an absolute majority."
