Network Performance Report: 2023 Mid-Year Review

Overview of Network Performance

The Solana network has demonstrated significant improvements through the first half of 2023, as measured by multiple critical performance indicators including uptime, transaction ratios, block production time, and transactions per second. For users to confidently adopt and utilize the Solana network at scale, the network must provide consistent reliability, accessibility, accurate information transmission, rapid transaction processing, and secure asset protection.

Uptime serves as a foundational metric for network reliability and user confidence. Network uptime reflects the percentage of time the network remains operational and accessible within a given period. Over the six-month period from January to June 2023, Solana demonstrated exceptional reliability: January 2023 achieved 100% uptime, February 2023 recorded 97.19% uptime, and March through June 2023 each maintained 100% uptime. The single instance of downtime in February was directly correlated with a network upgrade process that has since been substantially improved.

Transaction ratios provide insight into network health and efficiency. Voting transactions are essential for network consensus, occurring when validators confirm proposed blocks, while non-voting transactions represent user activities such as NFT mints or token transfers. As the network matures and becomes more efficient, the ratio of voting transactions to non-voting transactions should decrease, indicating that a smaller percentage of overall transaction volume is devoted to consensus mechanisms.

Block production time measures transaction speed by tracking how quickly the network adds new blocks to the blockchain. This metric indicates both the average block production speed and the consistency of this performance over time. Stable and low block times enable faster transaction finality and improved user experience.

Transaction throughput, measured in average and maximum transactions per second, represents the most direct reflection of network capacity utilization and growth potential. The Solana network has established a benchmark throughput of 65,000 transactions per second based on simple transactions. However, actual observed transactions per second vary based on the complexity of transactions on the network and current demand patterns. Complex transactions such as NFT purchases consume more network resources than simple token transfers. It is important to distinguish that actual network transactions per second reflects current demand rather than network capacity; in most cases, Solana mainnet-beta operates below maximum capacity.

Network Highlights Since October 2022

Network upgrades to handle high traffic and demand have been instrumental in improving Solana's resilience. During 2022, the network experienced slowdowns during periods of high activity, particularly during large NFT mints. In response, core developers implemented three major network upgrades:

The QUIC TPU upgrade implements Google's QUIC network protocol, designed for fast asynchronous communication with session management and flow control capabilities. QUIC enables the network to limit traffic from individual actors and prioritize genuine valid transactions by focusing bandwidth allocation efficiently.

Stake-weighted Quality of Service (QoS) optimizes leader network bandwidth allocation through stake-weighted mechanisms. Rather than accepting transactions on a first-come-first-served basis, stake-weighted QoS allocates transmission rights proportionally to validator stake. A validator with 0.5% stake receives the right to transmit at least 0.5% of packets to the leader, making the network more resilient by disincentivizing spam and malicious activity.

Localized fee markets empower users to express transaction urgency through priority fees calculated based on expected computational resource requirements. A simple token transfer requires lower total priority fees than an equivalent urgency NFT mint, creating market efficiency by allowing users to prioritize transactions according to their needs.

Improved software upgrade process was implemented following the February 2023 network incident. Leadership proposed comprehensive enhancements to make upgrade processes more resilient at scale. These improvements include conducting comprehensive upgrade testing through version downgrade simulation before mainnet deployment, optimizing tools for manual restarts to automate mechanical procedures, and implementing adversarial testing against both private clusters and testnet environments to identify potential vulnerabilities.

Version 1.14 smooth release demonstrated the effectiveness of improved upgrade procedures. Version 1.14 achieved official network adoption by May 22, 2023, when over 66.6% of total stake upgraded to the new version. By May 30, 97.4% of stake on the Solana network had adopted version 1.14, representing the first significant network upgrade since the February incident and a clear validation of new upgrade protocols.

Compressed NFTs and state compression technology enables NFTs to be minted at dramatically reduced costs—2,400 to 24,000 times cheaper than uncompressed counterparts. State compression allows minting 100 million NFTs for as little as 50 SOL by storing data on-chain that would otherwise require local storage on every machine. This innovation has unlocked new use cases including messaging and customer loyalty programs beyond traditional NFT applications.

Network migration events in 2023 proceeded seamlessly, leveraging state compression technology for efficient NFT minting without disrupting Solana network operations. These migrations demonstrated the practical scalability benefits of recent network improvements and the network's capacity to support growing transaction volumes.

Next-generation validator client development has advanced significantly, including high-performance protocol implementation for more efficient data transactions and Reed-Solomon Erasure Coding, an error correction scheme that ensures accurate data encoding in block shreds before transmission to validators.

Light client development through community initiatives produced the first light client for Solana. Light clients enable simple devices to verify ledger state and detect invalid transitions by connecting to full nodes, expanding network accessibility.

Real-time emissions monitoring positioned Solana as a leader in blockchain sustainability measurement. Transparent tracking platforms have been developed to provide insight into the network's environmental impact.

Network Challenges Since October 2022

Solana experienced one significant incident during the period since the October 2022 report, with no user funds lost.

On February 25, 2023, Mainnet Beta experienced extended block finalization times. Investigation revealed that several network services running custom block-forwarding software inadvertently transmitted data volumes several orders of magnitude larger than normal blocks. The network's de-duplication logic could not process this volume, overwhelming the Turbine protocol and severely degrading performance. Core engineers responded by enhancing de-duplication logic, implemented in subsequent validator client versions. Long-term mitigation involves replacing all UDP-based networking protocols with QUIC, which better enforces Turbine constraints. Implementation of QUIC, fee markets, and stake-weighted Quality of Service directly addresses the root causes of this incident.

Ongoing Development

Solana core developers continue advancing network upgrades through coordinated improvement processes, which coordinate changes across multiple development teams. Recent initiatives focus on rewarding validators based on voting frequency and latency optimization, aiming to reduce block finalization times and improve overall network performance.

Recent releases include features designed to enhance network efficiency. Protocol improvements continue to significantly enhance network latency and throughput capacity. New stake management instructions allow community members to manage validator delegation, lowering skip rates and improving performance while preserving community control over delegated assets for redelegation or withdrawal.

Conclusion

The Solana network has achieved substantial performance improvements through the first half of 2023, demonstrating resilience and growth across multiple critical metrics. Implementation of advanced network upgrades including QUIC, stake-weighted QoS, and localized fee markets has enhanced the network's ability to handle high traffic periods while maintaining consistent uptime. The improved software upgrade process has proven effective, enabling smooth adoption of major network versions. Innovations such as state compression and light clients expand network accessibility and use cases. While the February 2023 incident presented a significant challenge, the rapid response and implementation of systemic improvements demonstrate the network's commitment to reliability and scalability. As Solana continues its development trajectory with emerging initiatives focused on latency reduction and protocol optimization, the network remains positioned to support scaling adoption while maintaining the security and reliability users require. The measured transactions per second capacity continues to position Solana as a high-throughput blockchain infrastructure solution.

FAQ

How many transactions can Solana process per second?

Solana can process up to 100,000 transactions per second, far exceeding Visa's 65,000 TPS peak and significantly outpacing Ethereum's 20.7 TPS, making it one of the fastest blockchain networks.

How fast are Solana transactions?

Solana transactions confirm in 0.4-0.5 seconds with capacity to process up to 65,000 transactions per second simultaneously, making it one of the fastest blockchain networks available.

What is Solana's current TPS?

Solana's current TPS is 2,702 as of December 22, 2025. This represents the network's transaction processing capacity, demonstrating Solana's high-speed blockchain performance in the layer-1 ecosystem.

Which blockchain has the highest TPS?

Solana leads with 3,000 TPS in practice and theoretical capacity up to 710,000 TPS. Other high-speed blockchains include Tron and Aptos, designed for fast, low-cost transactions and diverse decentralized applications.