Solana cuts mainnet slot time to 350 milliseconds in first step toward 200ms goal
The change should lead to faster transaction confirmations but is not designed to increase the overall throughput of the network.
Solana (SOL) recently updated its mainnet, reducing the target slot time from 400 milliseconds to 350 milliseconds. Slot time refers to the brief period in which a designated validator can produce a block of transactions on Solana's blockchain. This change is the first step of SIMD-0525, an upgrade proposal that aims to eventually cut the target slot time down to 200 milliseconds.
Shorter slots lead to lower confirmation and finalization latency for users and reduce the time for consensus or commitment thresholds measured in slots. As a result, epochs, which initially took about 48 hours, will now only take around 42 hours. Validators, responsible for four slots at a time, will now switch turns every 1.4 seconds, down from 1.6 seconds.
The developers plan to make three additional 50 millisecond cuts before reaching the final target of 200 milliseconds. However, it's important to note that shorter slots do not automatically enable the network to process more work each second, as each slot carries less work. The change also limits how much one validator can delay or rearrange transactions before the next validator's turn.
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