Solana Explores Major Network Upgrade to Boost Performance and Capacity

The Solana network is exploring the possibility of expanding its Compute Unit (CU) capacity, a critical metric for managing transaction complexity and optimizing resource usage.

CUs play a role similar to Ethereum’s gas fees, ensuring efficient transactions and preventing the blockchain from being overloaded with computational demands.

Currently, Solana’s network operates with a block limit of 48 million CUs. However, there has been a shift in discussions within the community to increase this limit to improve overall performance. Some of the proposals on the table include raising the limit to 50 million CUs, while others advocate for a larger jump to 60 million CUs.

Developers behind Solana emphasize that the current limits are designed to maintain stability by allowing the majority of participants to manage the transaction load effectively. They also note that the current transaction execution times on the mainnet are not being significantly constrained, leaving room for capacity growth. The main objective behind these proposals is to provide an increase in capacity without negatively affecting the overall network stability.

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Other suggestions being considered include keeping the block limits as they are, which would avoid additional strain but leave some potential capacity untapped. Some members of the community have pushed for a more aggressive increase to 96 million CUs, but this option is considered too risky, as it could create unanticipated challenges, particularly concerning the infrastructure that supports the Solana protocol. Instead, the consensus seems to favor a gradual increase in CU limits to ensure that network improvements are implemented sustainably.

Alexander Stefanov