Solana blockchain with network issues
Software update should bring improvement
New payment service presented
Solana course joins weakened crypto market
Since the beginning of the year, the prices of some popular cryptocurrencies have been under pressure. Bitcoin & Co. have now leveled off at a lower level, which is well below the highs of the past year. The uncertainty in the crypto market is currently being fueled by the demand for regulatory measures, which some countries are already implementing.
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Investors in the Internet currency Solana may also have noticed the downward trend. While the coin still marked an all-time high of $260.06 in November 2021, it started the new year at just over $170 and is now trending at $118.70 (as of February 7, 2022).
Solana blockchain plagued by network issues
In addition to a general weakness in the crypto market, Solana faces other challenges. The network repeatedly has to struggle with outages and losses in speed, as reported by the crypto exchange Coinbase and the crypto portal “Wu Blockchain”. At the beginning of January, the blockchain was said to have been unavailable for a few hours, which meant that transactions could not be completed. According to Wu Blockchain, Solana’s official Telegram group even rumored that the connection error was caused by a DDoS attack caused by network overload. Anatoly Yakovenko, co-founder of Solana, was able to allay these concerns a short time later. “It’s not a DDoS, just problems with the commercialization of a new runtime environment,” the developer reassured the Solana community on his Twitter profile.
it’s not a ddos, just pain of getting a new runtime commercialized.
$ solana ping
— transaction statistics —
8 transactions submitted, 8 transactions confirmed, 0.0% transaction loss
confirmation min/mean/max/stddev = 2119/3934/9387/2415 ms– anat◎ly ??? ? (@aeyakovenko) January 4, 2022
A few days after the incident, reports of connection problems made the rounds again: the developers explained in a status report that “performance losses” were recognizable that could be traced back to a previous software version. With an update that was released as a result, the problems are said to have been largely contained. As early as September 2021, the blockchain was unavailable for a full 17 hours, which meant that some users could not liquidate their positions, as “Bloomberg” reports.
Update should fix it
The network officially advertises that it processes transactions particularly quickly. While other blockchains use a time stamp from external programs, Solana uses “Proof of History” technology, as the developer’s website says. This integrates the timestamp directly into your own blockchain. “Each block producer must use the VDF [verifizierbare Verzgerungsfunktion]this proof of history, to get to its assigned slot and produce a block,” says Yakovenko. To do this, the hashed records of previously generated states are placed in the sequence – in “near real time”.
A few days after the recent network problems, Yakovenko took the floor again via Twitter. For example, the network had an error in handling duplicate transactions, which contributed to the slowdown in transmission speeds and was detected by trading through trading bots. Although the speed has improved since the 1.8.14 update, the problem has not yet been completely resolved. Another upgrade, which should be rolled out by the end of the month, should remedy this. With further support, the developers not only want to strengthen the network, but also make payments with cryptocurrencies easier, as confirmed by Sheraz Shere, who heads the Payments department at Solana. “We are on the subject for the next few years and decades,” Shere said in an interview with Bloomberg. “While there are network congestion issues, we see this as a much longer-term opportunity.”
Payment service Solana Pay to link NFT business with retail
With the new “Solana Pay” service, users should be able to carry out transactions with various tokens based on the Solana blockchain – and with as little effort as possible. According to a press release, it can be used in retail stores, which could significantly simplify payment processing in local stores. The customer only has to scan a QR code with his smartphone for the payment amount to be transferred immediately to the retailer’s account. According to the developers, this could result in further advantages for the buyer. Along with an NFT version of the purchased item, a certified NFT receipt of purchase is also sent to the customer’s smartphone. For example, it is conceivable that a customer buys sneakers in a local sports shop and can then equip their own character in a virtual metaverse with them. The concept is also to be understood as customer loyalty, since new products that are tailored to the needs of existing buyers can display a corresponding message on their smartphones.
“Our team helped develop the building blocks for a decentralized, open and true peer-to-peer payment protocol,” the announcement reads. “We believe this will pave the way for a future where digital currencies are rife and digital money moves like data through the internet – uncensored and without intermediaries taxing every transaction.”
“Visa of the digital asset ecosystem”
For Solana Pay, the makers behind the network rely primarily on stablecoins, which are tied to fiat currencies and are therefore significantly less susceptible to fluctuations than Bitcoin and Ethereum, for example. This makes it much more attractive for customers to use it. But the implementation of the payment service would also benefit retailers, since it entails lower fees than, for example, credit card providers. Analysts at Bank of America are even predicting that Solana could become the “Visa of the digital asset ecosystem,” according to Bloomberg. And the major bank JPMorgan also believes in the crypto provider: Solana has disputed a high market share from its competitor Ethereum in the NFT business, as analyst Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou explained in a statement.
“Our goal is to create a new type of payment channel,” Shere told Bloomberg. “We believe that the network congestion problems will be short-lived.” It remains to be seen whether the network problems will actually be a thing of the past and whether this will also be reflected in Solana’s price development.
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