Solana (SOL) has taken a significant step towards enhancing transaction speed and efficiency by approving a proposal with an overwhelming 98% majority from validators on April 9. This proposal introduces the concept of "Timely Vote Credits," aimed at reducing consensus vote latency and potentially expediting blockchain transactions.
The newly approved mechanism, put forward by Solana validator Shinobi Systems, seeks to modify how validators are incentivized to confirm transactions. Presently, validators earn a fixed one-vote credit for each consensus vote, leading to instances where some validators delay votes to maximize earnings without facing consequences.
Solana’s Future
Under the proposed mechanism, votes with minimal latency would receive more credits, discouraging deliberate delays. Solana Compass data indicates a staggering throughput of around 1,000 user transactions and nearly 2,000 vote transactions per second.
Looking Ahead: The actual impact of this change remains to be seen, as it is expected to be implemented following the v1.18 upgrade, which aims to address network congestion and prioritize fee-related issues. However, Solana is concurrently addressing transaction failures attributed to a QUIC implementation bug, with a fix scheduled for April 15, pending successful testing.