Solana Network Suffers Congestion, Negatively Affects SOL Price

The Solana network has reportedly suffered congestion as a result of a massive influx of users. Consequently, this has negatively impacted the price of SOL, its native token. Users of the network have complained about similar occurrences in previous weeks.

Increased network usage: a blessing and a curse

Recently, Solana, the fourth-largest blockchain in the crypto industry, has experienced some setbacks attributed to a large rush of traffic to the network. While an increase in network activity can be a ‘blessing’ for the price of the associated token, it turns out to be a ‘curse’ for users who suffer unsuccessful transactions.

The blockchain, plagued by network issues, has caused Solana’s recent advances to collapse. Up to 70% of non-voting transactions on the network have failed in recent weeks, marking a sharp increase in failed transactions. The high failure rate generates a backlog that leads to user grievances on social media platforms.

Since most trading bot transactions are dropped before they are put on-chain, they have been connected to unsuccessful transactions. For 90% of the network users, the stats can be deceptive, according to Mert Mumtaz of Helius Labs.

Speaking on the situation, Austin Federa, a strategist at the Solana Foundation, took to the microblogging platform X (formerly Twitter) to address concerns. He pointed out that the network has been “battle-tested” (painting the situation in a positive light) stressing that the bug fixes will roll out in the coming weeks. He emphasized the need for continuous development by stating that it is not a “one-and-done operation,” rather it is “what scaling looks like.”

The Solana network is, once again, being battle tested with a huge influx of traffic. Bug fixes are rolling out over the next week, and things will start to improve.

But there is no silver bullet and no "finished" – we expect demand will continue to increase, which will require…

— Austin Federa | 🇺🇸 (@Austin_Federa) April 5, 2024

SOL suffers consequences

Meanwhile, the price of the utility token SOL has plummeted by over 6% in the last 24 hours, suffering the. The token is currently recording quick liquidations as sentiment dwindles. Notably, data from CoinMarketCap shows that SOL is trading at $175.49. However, its trading volume has spiked by 64% to $6,011,015,156 ($6 billion) within the recorded time. Ultimately, Solana (SOL) remains the 5th-largest cryptocurrency in the world with a live market cap of $78 billion.