Jump’s Firedancer Team Pushes to Remove Solana Block Limits

Jump Crypto’s Firedancer team, which is developing a new high-performance client for Solana, has proposed removing the blockchain’s fixed cap on the amount of computing power that can be allocated to a block.

The idea, outlined in the SIMD-0370 proposal, would scrap Solana’s current block limit of 60 million compute units (CUs). A separate plan already under discussion could raise that cap to 100 million, but the proposal goes further by eliminating the cap entirely. 

That means the number of transactions in a block would depend on how much a powerful validator can handle, rather than being limited by a fixed number.

The proposal argues the shift would spark a “flywheel effect.” Wealthier validators would upgrade their hardware to capture more revenue from packing larger blocks with more transactions. In turn, this “makes it possible for block producers to safely push the limits, and so on.” 

Concerns and criticisms

Not everyone is entirely comfortable with the idea. Roger Wattenhofer, Head of Research at Solana development firm Anza, said he likes the idea of removing limits but warned that it could tilt the network toward centralization if only a handful of highly advanced validators can keep up. 

Wattenhofer also raised the risk that overly large blocks might destabilize the system. Still, he “believes that all these problems are solvable, so I’ve always been a big advocate of ditching the limit.”

Alpenglow upgrade

The debate comes as Solana prepares for its major Alpenglow upgrade, which was approved this month with broad community backing. The overhaul is expected to begin testing later this year.

It will add a ‘skip-vote’ feature that lets weaker validators step aside from processing blocks that are too large, without affecting the network. The upgrade will also cut block finality times from 12.8 seconds to just 150 milliseconds. Additionally, it will bring other improvements to resilience and data efficiency.

Meanwhile, Jump Crypto, the digital assets division of Chicago-based Jump Trading Group, has been deepening its ties with the Solana ecosystem. In August, it teamed up with Galaxy Digital and Multicoin Capital to launch a Solana-focused treasury firm, Forward Industries, securing $1.65 billion in private investment commitments.

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