Solana Validators to Make Second Restart Attempt as Transaction Freeze Drags On

The Solana network’s deep freeze continued Saturday as validators were preparing a second restart attempt that they hoped would restore service to users of the blockchain.

By evening New York time, validators running Solana’s infrastructure had long since concluded that the best way to right the chain would be to synchronize a restart and fork the chain. A first attempt was abandoned when validators realized they picked the wrong point at which to restart, further lengthening the delay.

The problems that started as sluggish transaction processing have spiraled into a near complete shutdown of activity on Solana, validators and developers told CoinDesk. The chain’s block production has ceased and transactions aren’t processing or being validated.

For users of the chain, it means they can’t. Their on-chain crypto assets are unmovable, frozen in place until critical backend infrastructure comes back online.

Hours into the crisis key voices in the Solana ecosystem were still looking to identify a culprit. One leading theory was that a “fat block” gunked up the blockchain’s mechanics. Notably, the network was moving to an upgraded version shortly before its troubles began.

At press time validators, working in conjunction with developers at Solana Labs, were again attempting to restart the chain and had gotten some 70% of total stake behind the move. The network needs an 80% supermajority to proceed.