In a move aimed at accelerating transaction processing on the Solana blockchain, validators have voted in favor of a proposal that aims to reduce the latency of consensus “votes.” The proposal, known as “Timely Vote Credits,” received an overwhelming 98% of votes in favor and was passed on April 9.
The proposal addresses the incentive structure for validators when making “votes,” a crucial component of Solana’s consensus mechanism for confirming transactions. Currently, validators receive a fixed one vote credit whenever they submit a consensus vote on a block that becomes finalized by the network. Over time, validators have discovered that they can optimize their earnings by delaying their votes until they are certain they are voting on the correct fork, without incurring any penalties.
The new proposal, initially suggested by “zantetsu” from Solana validator Shinobi Systems on March 14, introduces a variable number of vote credits that are awarded based on the latency of the votes. Votes with lower latency will receive a higher number of credits. Solana Labs, the team behind Solana, explained that this change will discourage intentional delays in voting, as postponing a vote will result in fewer credits earned.
The new mechanism is expected to be implemented following Solana’s v1.18 upgrade, scheduled for this month. The upgrade will also include fixes for priority fees and network congestion issues on the chain.
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