SOL Stumbles as Solana Struggles with Technical Issues

Solana’s SOL token down nearly 8% as Solana Mainnet creaks under a high transaction load

article-image

Blockworks Exclusive Art by Axel Rangel

share
  • Solana engineers say network bug caused forking to begin when transaction load hit 400,000 TPS
  • Engineers were unable to immediately resolve the problem, which led to transactions not processing to blocks on the Solana blockchain. Instead, the validator community elected to do a restart of the network

Solana is down nearly 8% in the last 24 hours, according to CoinGecko, as the Alameda Research backed protocol experienced its first major growing pain. 

According to various Solana block explorers like SolanaBeach, the majority of transactions that were attempted onto the blockchain have failed. Data shows that while there were intermittent issues as early as a week ago, for the last eight hours that failure is now widespread and barely any transactions can be successfully written to the blockchain. 

“Solana Mainnet Beta encountered a large increase in transaction load which peaked at 400,000 TPS. These transactions flooded the transaction processing queue, and lack of prioritization of network-critical messaging caused the network to start forking,” the Solana Foundation said in a statement on their twitter account. “This forking led to excessive memory consumption, causing some nodes to go offline. Engineers across the ecosystem attempted to stabilize the network, but were unsuccessful.”

Loading Tweet..

The Foundation said that the validator community had decided to commence a restart of the network, and instructions on the restart would be posted to its Discord server shortly. 

Georgios Konstantopoulos, a research partner at VC fund Paradigm, speculated on Twitter that part of the issue came from a network of bugs spamming the network to exploit a bug that would reduce transaction fees. 

Others on Twitter were skeptical that the protocol, which launched earlier this year, would be able to handle institutional grade traffic should it crumble at this point of limited use. The Solana blockchain was home to this summer’s hottest NFT trend, the Degenerate Ape Academy with one going for $1.1 million earlier this month

Solana Labs CEO Anatoly Yakovenko was undeterred on Twitter, inviting Solana validators to get on the blockchain’s Discord to discuss the next steps. 

“It’s beta time,” he said, acknowledging the software wasn’t in a perfect state and there was some work to be done. 

SOL is currently trading for $153.76, down 8% on-day.

Are you a UK or EU reader that can’t get enough investor-focused content on digital assets?Join us in London on November 15th and 16th for the Digital Asset Summit (DAS) London. Use code ARTICLE for £75 off your ticket. Buy it now.

Tags

Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily, with Byron Gilliam.

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

recent research

Research Report Templates.jpg

Research

Figure, founded by former SoFi CEO Mike Cagney, has emerged as a leader in onchain RWAs, with ~$17.5B publicly tokenized. The platform’s ecosystem volume is growing ~40% YoY as it expands beyond HELOCs into student loans, DSCR loans, unsecured loans, bankruptcy claims, and more. Operationally, Figure cuts average loan production cost by ~93% and compresses median funding time from ~42 days to ~10, creating a durable speed-and-cost advantage.

article-image

Layer 2 network Taiko integrates Chainlink Data Streams to deliver reliable onchain market data for DeFi and institutions

by Blockworks /
article-image

The license will allow Bullish to operate in New York under strict digital asset rules

by Blockworks /
article-image

The derivatives giant expands crypto offerings with new Solana and XRP futures options, pending regulatory review

by Blockworks /
article-image

Nasdaq-listed firm to fund Solana token purchases and expand its blockchain-focused treasury strategy

by Blockworks /
article-image

The partnership deepens liquidity and lowers conversion costs as demand for regulated stablecoins grows worldwide

by Blockworks /
article-image

Any indication the FOMC is less dovish than anticipated could weigh on crypto, industry watcher says