Solana's blockchain is experiencing severe congestion, with Dune analytics showing that approximately 70% of non-voting transactions are failing. Users have reported delays and failures, with wallets like Phantom displaying warnings. The development collective Anza has taken center stage in addressing the issue.
Root Causes: QUIC Implementation and Agave Client Behavior
Anza linked the congestion to a specific implementation of the QUIC internet transport protocol and the behavior of its Agave validator client when processing high request volumes. The team stated it has been working around the clock to diagnose and remedy bottlenecks, testing multiple fixes and aiming to ship patches next week.
Anatoly Yakovenko Compares Congestion to Total Failure
Solana Labs co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko explained that dealing with congestion bugs is more challenging than total liveness failure. "The latter is one and done, bug identified and patched and chain continues. The former has to go through the full release and test pipeline," he said. He urged patience as developers work through the complex issues.
Agave Client Update and Foundation Recommendations
Anza is preparing an update to its Agave client, focusing on improving the central scheduler to minimize conflicting transactions. Changes include routing and ordering incoming transactions to worker threads to reduce conflicts and enhance block packing. The Solana Foundation also released a list of recommendations last month to help users and app developers cope with the congestion. Anza emphasized it will continue delivering improvements in the coming months, signaling a long-term commitment to network stability.