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BitMEX founder Arthur Hayes has taken aim at Solana, describing the network’s transaction metrics as “bullsh.t”
Layer-1 blockchain network Solana has dominated crypto news headlines in recent weeks for crumbling in the face of peak user demand. At some point in the past month, a majority of user transactions failed, a situation in which Solana developers deferred to increased bot attacks and surging demand for block space.
While the Solana ecosystem has recently released a new version to address the network’s challenges, these improvements have not stopped former BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes from calling attention to Solana’s challenges. In a recent interview, Hayes Solana’s widely publicized transaction per second (TPS) metric as “bullsh.t.”
In an increasingly competitive blockchain space, many projects resort to overblowing the capability of the underlying network. Solana, for instance, claims to handle up to 50,000 TPS, even though that number exists theoretically if the network is used for simple transactions such as token transfers.
When utilized for more complex transactions, such as those involving smart contracts and decentralized finance (DeFi) applications, the network handles way fewer transactions. According to Solana Explorer, the network handles only around 2300 transactions per second, a number that becomes even lower if one excludes the transaction quota allocated to validators on the network.
Solana’s design entails that communication between validators also counts as transactions on the network, thus inflating the TPS metric. That design, however, is fundamental to how Solana achieves speed and low fees but has often been called out by critics as a marketing tactic.
Memecoins Expose Solana’s Weaknesses, Arthur Hayes Says
Commenting on Solana’s recent failings, Arthur Hayes told the Unchained Podcast that memecoins have shown the Solana TPS metric to be “absolute bullsh.t, as people have started to trade these things and 75% of transactions are starting to fail on Solana.”
In an apparent jibe, Arthur Hayes wished the Solana ecosystem “good luck” in its bid to become the Ethereum of the current crypto market cycle.
It is worth mentioning that Hayes’ recent comments may not completely reflect his view on Solana. Back in December, the BitMEX founder called for the price of Solana to reach $100, even publicly disclosing that he holds the cryptocurrency.