Fidelity report finds Solana resilient but flags stake, hosting and client concentration
In brief
- Fidelity's FCAT said Solana made significant progress on resilience, economic security and performance indicators.
- Solana has had no reported mainnet outages in two years, the report noted, per Cointelegraph.
- FCAT flagged stake, hosting and client software concentration as areas warranting continued observation.
- Solana Foundation, separately, cut slot time to 350ms and has shared plans to reach 200ms.
What the FCAT report credited
FCAT's read on Solana's economics was largely favorable, according to Cointelegraph's summary of the report. The report said Solana's economic security is supported by substantial staking participation and by incentives that reward validator performance.
It also cited low latency, expanded capacity and inexpensive transactions as factors that support practical use of the network at scale. Those are the performance indicators behind the report's broader finding of significant progress.
FCAT didn't give Solana a clean bill of health, though.
Where Fidelity wants continued observation
According to the report, several areas surrounding decentralization and resilience warrant continued observation. Stake concentration is one. FCAT pointed specifically to stake concentrated among a small number of validator identities and operators, and it said concentrations in stake, hosting and client software could threaten Solana's run of no reported mainnet outages in two years.
That's the main tension in the report. The uptime record has held (by the report's count), but FCAT's view is that it's exposed if too much of the network's stake, hosting or client software sits in too few hands.
A separate push on slot times
The speed work is a separate track, driven by the Solana Foundation rather than Fidelity. Cointelegraph reported on Aug. 21 that Solana had cut its slot time to 350 milliseconds, the first such reduction since the network launched, citing Jacob Creech, the Solana Foundation's vice president of technology.
In June, the Solana Foundation shared plans to bring slot times down to 200ms, saying it'd improve latency and speed up confirmations on the network. Three further 50ms reductions are planned, according to Cointelegraph. None of those slot-time figures come from the FCAT report.
Frequently asked questions
What risks did Fidelity's report flag for Solana?
The Fidelity Center for Applied Technology (FCAT) report said several areas around decentralization and resilience warrant continued observation, according to Cointelegraph. It pointed to stake concentrated among a small number of validator identities and operators, and said concentrations in stake, hosting and client software could threaten Solana's record of no reported mainnet outages in two years.
What did the FCAT report say supports Solana's economic security?
According to Cointelegraph, the FCAT report said Solana's economic security is supported by substantial staking participation and by incentives that reward validator performance. It also cited low latency, expanded capacity and inexpensive transactions as supporting practical use of the network at scale.
What changes has the Solana Foundation made to slot times?
Cointelegraph reported on Aug. 21 that Solana cut its slot time to 350 milliseconds, the first such reduction since launch, citing Solana Foundation vice president of technology Jacob Creech. In June, the foundation shared plans to reduce slot times to 200ms, and three further 50ms reductions are planned. These figures are separate from the Fidelity report.
