Firedancer has a theoretical speed of 1 million transactions per second, which is several orders of magnitude faster than any blockchain-based system today.
On January 8, CoinDesk reported that Solana is stepping up testing of Firedancer, a highly anticipated software upgrade that is expected to significantly increase the blockchain’s processing speed.
By the end of this week, Solana’s core developers expect “the vast majority” of processing power on the chain’s low-stakes test network to be running through an early version of Firedancer, Frankendancer, according to messages in the Solana technical Discord server. And called on Solana validators (the people who run the computers that power the network) to take action. The upgrade has been in the works since 2022, when the chain was plagued by frequent failures, and is 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 unmatched advantage in the race to attract global financial markets into blockchain. They point out that its theoretical speed is: 1 million transactions per second, which is several orders of magnitude faster than any blockchain-based system today.
As the new validator client for Solana led by the Jump Crypto team, Firedancer is fundamentally committed to enhancing the throughput and security of the Solana network. Development of Firedancer began as early as 2022, contrasting sharply with Solana's existing Rust language client (Agave). Firedancer is redesigned using C and C++, a decision that significantly reduces the probability of system crashes due to issues like memory leaks, making it more stable than the existing client.
In the early stages, Firedancer's development faced many challenges. For example, due to the complexity of the new software, validators discovered many defects during testing, leading many to adopt a cautious attitude towards it.
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 the main Solana client architecture. Until this week, only a small number of validators adopted Frankendancer; many told CoinDesk that they found it flawed and prone to crashes.
Kollen House, a long-term member of the Solana validator community, stated, 'It has been very difficult to keep this project running, but we have done it.' He believes that new initiatives to promote broader adoption of Frankendancer are a sign that the software is 'maturing.'
Firedancer brings several significant technical innovations compared to the existing Solana client, especially in high-performance computing and parallel processing. The architecture of Firedancer consists of three core components: a high-performance computing stack, a network stack, and a runtime and consensus mechanism. These innovations have significantly increased the throughput of the Solana network, theoretically reaching over 1 million transactions per second, far exceeding the throughput limits of existing systems.
Firedancer's design relies on a highly concurrent computing model, where each validator node executes different tasks through multiple independent threads, such as transaction validation, block packing, and data processing. This parallel processing allows the system to allocate computing resources more efficiently, maximizing throughput and improving processing speed. Each thread focuses on a specific task and has a dedicated CPU core, which avoids resource wastage.
Firedancer introduces an innovative tile architecture, where each tile corresponds to a specific task and is bound to a specific thread and CPU core. This flexible architecture allows different types of tasks to allocate resources flexibly according to actual needs. For example, the network stack (net) and QUIC protocol tiles can process over 1 million transactions per second, while the transaction validation (verify) and bank operation (bank) tiles focus on secure validation and execution of transactions; although their throughput is lower, they can handle high-concurrency transaction requests.
Firedancer's consensus mechanism reduces the latency of transaction validation and improves the overall system's responsiveness by optimizing network data flow and distributed processing. This allows the Solana network to maintain its efficient operation during high concurrency and load surges, avoiding system crashes due to single points of failure.
One of the highlights of Firedancer is its enhanced performance. According to the development team's demonstration, Firedancer can handle over 1 million transactions per second, far exceeding Solana's current theoretical limit of 50,000 TPS. This performance significantly enhances the competitiveness of the Solana blockchain in the global financial market and provides a more robust infrastructure for future DeFi and Web3 applications. In comparison, traditional financial payment systems like Visa typically handle only tens of thousands of transactions per second. Firedancer's performance will undoubtedly enable Solana to stand out among these competitors and become a leader in future blockchain payments.
In addition to performance improvements, Firedancer also greatly enhances the security of the Solana network. By introducing a new client that is compatible with existing systems, Firedancer not only increases the decentralization of the Solana network but also further reduces the risk of network crashes caused by single client failures. Unlike the original Rust client, Firedancer is written in C and C++, which effectively prevents crashes due to issues like memory leaks and minimizes the impact in case of failures.
The introduction of Firedancer also provides new solutions for upgrading the Solana network. In previous versions, Solana had to rely on fewer clients for network updates and maintenance, which often led to technical difficulties during the upgrade process. With the addition of Firedancer, Solana now has more client options, making network upgrades more flexible and efficient. Furthermore, Firedancer is compatible with existing protocols, ensuring a smooth transition for the ecosystem without requiring major adjustments from DApp developers and users.