Solana reduced slot time to 350 ms

The Solana team has enabled the first stage of reducing the average slot time — from 400 to 350 ms — in the mainnet, as part of implementing the SIMD-0525 improvement proposal.

Solana validators on the Agave v4.2 client have activated the first of four stages to reduce slot time. This is the first reduction in slot length since the network's launch.

A slot is a fixed window during which the validator-leader forms a block. Shortening the slot should accelerate transaction confirmations. Further plans include moving to 300, 250, and 200 ms.

Each subsequent stage has its own activation mechanism and is enabled sequentially in a later epoch. One such period in Solana lasts 432,000 slots, or approximately two to three days. The approved schedule allows the upgrade to be halted if the rate of missed blocks increases.

At the time of writing, the average slot time is 370 ms, and over a 10-minute timeframe — 366 ms.

The Solana Foundation lists among the update's goals reducing latency and increasing censorship resistance. A shorter slot reduces the time during which a single leader controls block assembly. The Solana team has also linked these changes to already implemented improvements, including Turbine and Replay, which optimized block propagation and re-processing by clients.

The price of $SOL has gained nearly 4.5% over the past day, approaching $95. The token has outperformed Bitcoin (+1.6%) or Ethereum (+2.6%) in terms of dynamics but lags significantly behind, for example, XRP and Dogecoin — 21% and 10% respectively.

Recall that in August, Solana came within a step of stopping transaction finalization — validators with a total combined stake of 28.83% $SOL went offline simultaneously, with the critical threshold being 33.34%.