Infrastructure operators on the Solana network faced a critical situation on Saturday as a technical glitch caused a fork in the blockchain, hindering users’ ability to perform transactions. Solana’s Discord server reported that the blockchain began forking at approximately 00:53 New York time. This resulted in validators’ RAM usage increasing while the chain’s transaction throughput plummeting, almost freezing all on-chain activity on the network.

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Solana’s High Transaction Throughput Significantly Reduced During Glitch

Solana is known for its high transaction throughput, which reaches up to 5000 TPS. However, during the recent glitch, the network could only process around 93 transactions per second, indicating a significant reduction in performance. The data site Solana Explorer reported the decline, highlighting the severity of the incident.

Recent Technical Glitch on Solana Network Brings Back Memories of Previous Woes

The event has brought back memories of Solana’s technical woes in 2022, where a series of slowdowns and halts forced the network to reform its inbound traffic management. The recent issue lacked a clear culprit, although validator operators and network engineers suspected a bug in the new version of Solana Code that had come online shortly before the incident.

Validators Downgrade to Previous Solana Code to Restore Network Performance

To restore the network’s performance, some validators downgraded to the previous version of Solana code, hoping it would revive the network’s throughput. SolBlaze, who runs a liquid staking pool and is active in developer circles, said that Solana employees also advocated for the downgrade. However, restoring Solana’s operations could take hours, with no guarantee that the downgrade will work. Two responders to the incident stated that the reversion was preferable to attempting a chain restart, which would mean that the chain would be completely offline.

Conclusion: Experts Recommend Reversion to Old Software to Restore Operations

In conclusion, the recent technical glitch on the Solana network caused significant disruption to the blockchain’s performance, resulting in a substantial drop in transaction throughput. The lack of a definite bug made resolving the issue more challenging, with validators downgrading to the previous version of the Solana code in an attempt to revive the network’s operations. While the situation is still ongoing, experts believe that the reversion to the old software is the best approach, and a supermajority of validators switching back to the old software is necessary to restore the network’s operations.