Solana (SOL) has faced a significant jump in transaction failures since March 2024. Data suggests that almost 75% of Solana’s operations have failed. Although these failed transactions are largely due to automated ‘bots’, it reflects the growing issues of ‘spam’ on the Solana network as well as its increased usage.
Data from Dune Analytics reveals that nearly three-quarters of all transactions on Solana are failing. On average, the failure rate is about 75%. Specifically, on April 4, the rate was 73.2%.
It’s important to note that the majority of the failures come from bot spam on the Solana blockchain. However, as a user, you could still encounter problems if you’re using Solana’s blockchain, particularly during swaps or DEX transactions.
If you’re a Solana user, you might have noticed some problems lately. The performance of the network has been impacted by regular interruptions.
These hiccups are often happening because the DEX volume on Solana has been going up after it fell from its high point in March. A renewed interest in meme coins and sudden surge in transactions on Solana could be behind these issues. According to DeFiLlama, the trading volume in the DEX has risen from $873.79 million on March 23 to $1.775 billion on April 3.
Solana’s patch
The Solana developers have made a patch to fix a bug, aiming to reduce traffic jams in the network. This move caused a 9% increase in the value of the SOL token. However, it’s still uncertain if this patch is a lasting fix for the network.
On April 15, Solana put out an important update to deal with the problem of overloaded servers. This had caused most transactions to fail. Right now, 56.48% of non-voting Solana transactions still fail, but that’s lower than last week’s 75%.
The recent update aimed to fix an implementation bug connected to the QUIC protocol. This protocol, which Google originally developed, is meant to facilitate the quick and efficient transfer of data packets across many connections at the same time.
In addition, the update offers a better way to manage transactions from those who have staked more in the network, ensuring they’re given priority.
Changes have been made that consider nodes with extremely low stakes as non-staked in the streamer service quality. In addition to this, the minimum rates per 100 milliseconds for staked nodes have been increased. These actions help improve the smooth flow of transactions throughout the network.
Solana investors welcomed the news as SOL’s value rose by 9% to $155 after the announcement. However, the effectiveness of this update depends on various crucial factors.
The success of the update largely depends on its acceptance by network validators. Anza, a team of Solana’s developers, is pushing validators to make the move to the new patch as soon as the network falls below a 5% delinquent stake.
This approach is designed to prevent the network from getting overloaded during important processes. However, it’s uncertain if the update can handle the continuous increase in Solana’s traffic.
The blockchain’s ability to handle transactions quickly and cheaply has drawn in many developers and investors. However, it’s also pulled in trading bots, leading to a major increase in network traffic.
Solana struggles to recover
Solana’s value has seen a significant decrease, dropping beyond key support levels at $180 and $160. The price of SOL fell by more than 20%, even sinking below the $150 point. Eventually, purchasers rallied around the $110 mark.
The price of this cryptocurrency, just like Bitcoin and Ethereum, hit a low point of $115.04 and is now trying to bounce back. We saw a decent rise above the $125 and $132 price points. It was able to go beyond the 23.6% Fib retracement level, which means a recovery from the fall it took, going from $204 down to $115.
Right now, Solana’s value is less than $150 and it’s under the average of the last 100 simple prices. The next value hurdle is at around $150. If it gets past that, the next big hurdle would be at around $160.