Solana Achieves a Temporary Peak of 100,000 TPS Under Stress Testing, Yet Its Practical Application Performance Remains to Be Verified

Solana Mainnet Surges Past 100,000 TPS

Data from the blockchain explorer Solscan shows that the Layer 1 blockchain Solana mainnet briefly surpassed 100,000 transactions per second (TPS) over the weekend. One block processed a total of 43,016 successful transactions and 50 failed transactions, reaching a peak of 107,540 TPS, with the block executed and processed by the validator “Cavey Cool”.

The surge in transaction volume was primarily caused by “no-operation” (noop) program calls, which are lightweight instructions present in every transaction that do not alter the state of the blockchain but can be used for stress testing the network’s capacity.

Critics argue that such transaction loads are artificially created and lack real significance. However, Helius CEO Mert Mumtaz stated that this is not negligible for the network’s consumption: while the computational units (CUs) required for execution are low, the “total cost” encompasses signature verification, data loading, and other non-execution overheads. This makes the transactions more like “low-cost oracle updates” rather than meaningless garbage transactions.

However, as of Monday morning, the actual throughput facing users is much lower. Solscan’s data shows an average TPS of only about 3,500, with nearly two-thirds attributed to validator voting transactions. Data from Chainspect and Solscan indicates that the effective throughput for payments and applications is only around 1,000 TPS.

Nevertheless, the data simultaneously indicates that under peak conditions, Solana could theoretically handle 80,000 to 100,000 TPS for real operations (such as transfers or oracle updates)—further enhancing the attractiveness of its network and the SOL token.