Behind the scenes of Solana’s slow validator problem

Key Points

1. Median block times on Solana increased in June, with some validators deliberately slowing block production to enhance staking yields, causing longer epoch lengths.

2. Anza, Jito, and Marinade are exploring solutions to address the slowdown, while Jito plans to blacklist slow validators from its stake pool.

3. Firedancer's upgrade highlighted the block-delaying strategy, which is not new in proof-of-stake blockchains but became more visible on Solana.

4. Anza proposed a protocol-level fix to reduce Solana's grace tick period by half, and the upcoming Alpenglow consensus overhaul aims to resolve the issue with skip votes.

5. Despite the slowdown, some validators like Galaxy and Kiln maintained acceptable performance thresholds, emphasizing client rewards without compromising security.