Solana: 100K TPS?! Hold Your Horses…

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So, apparently, Solana briefly did something that might sound impressive: it hit six figures in transactions per second. Yes, you read that right. 🤯 Six figures. According to a developer, mind you, which always lends a certain…credibility. It’s a bit like asking your neighbour if they think you’re a good cook.

Mert Mumtaz, a chap from a firm called Helius (sounds like something you’d catch in a space station), declared Solana the “first major blockchain” to reach 100,000 TPS. A block late on Sunday apparently showed 43,016 *successful* transactions alongside a mere 50 failures. That totals to 107,540 TPS! Quite a feat, if you ignore…well, we’ll get to that.

Because here’s where it gets interesting. Most of these transactions weren’t actual, you know, *things* happening. Like people buying coffee or settling debts. ☕ No, no. They were “noop” program calls. Which, as far as I can gather, is blockchain-speak for “doing absolutely nothing.” It’s like revving your engine really loudly while parked. Sounds good, doesn’t *do* much.

Mumtaz optimistically suggests you could “theoretically” get 80-100k TPS in *actual* transfers. Which is a bit like saying you could theoretically fly if you flap your arms hard enough. It’s a theory. A largely unproven one. 🤷

Solana’s *Real* TPS – A Bit More Humble

The real TPS? Significantly lower. Like, “back to earth” lower. Currently around 3,700 according to Solscan. But even *that* is a bit of a fib, as a whopping two-thirds of those are voting transactions. Validators have to vote, you see, otherwise the whole thing falls apart. It’s a bit like having a committee that votes on everything, multiple times a minute. Inflates the numbers, doesn’t it? 🗳️

So, the proper, honest-to-goodness real throughput is closer to 1,050 TPS, according to Solscan, or 1,004 TPS according to Chainspect. Which, while not terrible, isn’t quite the “100,000 TPS!” headline we were initially presented with. A little like advertising a cake as “mostly cake”.

And Who’s Using It All? Memecoins, Obviously.

Turns out, Solana is mostly fueled by memecoins. Seriously. Pump.fun, a platform for minting and trading these…digital ephemera…holds a 62% share of the total value locked on the network. DefiLlama says the value of Solana’s DeFi apps has climbed to $10.7 billion, close to its January peak. Which is great if you’re into digital pictures of dogs. 🐕

The Solana token (SOL) took a bit of a tumble over the weekend, dipping to $187 from $208. It’s still down 36% from its January high. Which, to be fair, is pretty standard for the crypto world. It’s a rollercoaster, really. Just try not to get motion sickness. 🎢

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2025-08-18 07:33