Solana Slashes Block Time in Half Amid Speed Push

Solana is speeding up its block time in four stages, with the first step already underway. The network aims to halve its block time from 400 milliseconds to 200ms, which will see it produce a new block every fifth of a second. This means Solana will make about 300 blocks per minute, compared to its current rate of around 144 per minute.

According to the source code, Anza's Agave software is carrying out the four steps, each reducing the block time by 50 milliseconds. Validators can pause the sequence if too many blocks start getting skipped. Currently, 96.7% of stake is running the required software, with 690 validators and 435 million SOL in active stake waiting to be upgraded.

Solana's co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko noted that it took two days to go from 800ms to 400ms, setting a rough expectation for the remaining stages. However, Anza has committed to no firm dates for completion.