Solana has introduced a slot time reduction from 400 milliseconds (ms) to 350 ms, the public blockchain network’s first slot-time reduction since its inception in 2020, and one that should result in reduced latency and confirmation times.
Shorter slots compress the time for a leader – a chosen network validator at any point in time – to form complete blocks of transactions, and for the next leader to receive further transactions. Solana plans to reduce slot times in incremental 50 ms steps to as low as 200 ms slot times. But the Solana Foundation cautions that the network will not advance to the next reduction if block skip rates (when a validate fails to complete a block) are too high.
Assuming the 350ms slot time works out, the resulting real-life imact would be a 12.5% increase in theoretical network speed and transaction confirmation times. If all phases of the upgrade succeed, the network will eventually reach a 200ms target slot time, representing a 50% reduction in latency.
For a network that is actively targeting financial markets applications, including exchanges, DeFi networks and payments, under its Internet Capital Markets initiative, the performance increases are likely to be a significant achievement in its goal to position Solana as a predictable, institutional-grade backbone.
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