A slot is a tiny window where a validator produces a block. On Friday, Solana shortened it, going from 400 milliseconds to 350. Nothing spectacular on the surface, except when it falls right at the moment when the market is looking at SOL with an interest it hasn’t had in months.
In brief
- Solana reduced its slot time from 400 to 350 milliseconds, with three steps remaining before the final goal of 200 milliseconds.
- Reducing slot time speeds up latency for crypto users without increasing the overall capacity of the Solana network.
- SOL climbed to over $91, driven by seven straight weeks of ETF inflows and the US Treasury announcement.
From 400 to 350 milliseconds: the first step in a four-step plan for Solana
The mainnet update carried out Friday morning on Solana reduced the target slot time to 350 milliseconds compared to 400 previously. This figure corresponds to the brief period during which a designated validator produces a block of crypto transactions. The change is therefore part of SIMD-0525, an improvement proposal that charts a course towards a final goal of 200 milliseconds on SOL, or half the historical time of the network.
However, faster transaction confirmations for crypto users are not a throughput boost. The Solana network does not process more work per second, but it simply redistributes time differently:
- Epochs, these cycles of 432,000 slots, go from around 48 hours to around 42 hours;
- Validators who keep control of 4 slots in a row change turns every 1.4 seconds instead of 1.6;
- A period of 1000 slots, which took 415 seconds before the change, only takes 368 seconds afterward.
Three other steps of 50 milliseconds are planned before reaching the 200 ms targeted by Solana and each will be activated separately. Even the deployment could be suspended if too many validators struggle to produce their blocks within the allotted time. With no date set at the moment, the developers first want to observe how the network copes with the 350 ms before moving on to the next step.
Crypto: market momentum that comes at the right time for SOL
This technical update on Solana does not happen in a vacuum, and coincides with a real return to favor of SOL on the crypto market. The token climbed more than 19% over the week, crossing the $94 mark! The highest level in almost three months.
The momentum does not only come from the price of SOL, but also from the Solana ETFs which have just had their seventh consecutive week of positive entries. The week of August 10 to 14 also saw $10.26 million in revenue, the best performance since May 22. Two factors explain this rise:
- The US Treasury’s announcement to expand its debt buyback operations, which injected liquidity into the entire crypto market;
- The reduction in slot-time which served as a positive technical signal for crypto investors already attentive to the Solana ecosystem.
The official Solana account did not miss the opportunity to mark the occasion, posting a message celebrating the spirit of builders and innovators who continued to build when no one believed in it. A choice of communication which says a lot about the confidence displayed by the team at the precise moment when prices and technical fundamentals are finally moving in the same direction.
These two technical and financial dynamics remain distinct. The slot time of 350 milliseconds on Solana does not guarantee anything on the price of SOL, and entries into ETFs in no way prejudge the success of the three remaining levels around 200 milliseconds. But for once, both lights are green at the same time and that is undoubtedly the most important.
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