Chorus One Tech Talk: The Future of Solana's Performance and Architecture

Solana is preparing for its most ambitious architectural overhaul yet, with changes so fundamental they could completely transform how the network operates by 2027. Brian Crain, from long-time Solana infrastructure provider Chorus One, laid out the roadmap at Breakpoint 2025, revealing how multiple concurrent leaders, new consensus mechanisms, and builder-validator separation could finally deliver on Solana's vision of becoming the world's internet capital markets.

Summary

Brian Crain's presentation offered a comprehensive look at where Solana stands today and where it's heading. While the network has made tremendous strides—finally achieving consistent sub-400 millisecond block times after years of work—Crain emphasized that the ultimate vision of accommodating massive global economic activity remains distant. The network currently processes around 400 user transactions per block, making it arguably the most economically active blockchain, yet current architecture still limits its potential.

Chorus One, which has been involved with Solana since meeting founders Toly and Raj in 2018, brings deep expertise to this analysis. The company participated in the earliest testnets, helped patch critical vulnerabilities before mainnet launch (including one that could have allowed unlimited token minting), and built the first liquid staking solution on the network. Their current work includes running validators and conducting quantitative experiments measuring performance across different configurations.

The current state shows mixed signals: while technical performance has improved dramatically, economic activity measured by priority fees sits at a two-year low following the memecoin and Trump-related boom earlier in 2025. This puts pressure on validator earnings and highlights the need for fundamental improvements that could attract sustained economic activity at scale.

Key Points:

Current Network Performance and Challenges

Solana's journey to reliable performance has been years in the making. Despite launching with a target of 400 millisecond block times, the reality for years was closer to 500-600 milliseconds. Only in 2025 has the network consistently achieved its original targets. Skip rates—where blocks fail to be produced—have dropped dramatically, and outages that once plagued the network have become rare events.

However, the explosion of custom schedulers presents new challenges. Validators now run diverse software configurations for processing transactions, creating unpredictability for application developers. Some schedulers process transactions as quickly as possible at the beginning of their slot, others wait until the end to maximize revenue, and solutions like Jito's BAM attempt a regular cadence throughout the block. While this competition drives innovation and higher APY for validators, it makes building predictable applications more difficult.

Albumglow: Rewriting Consensus

Albumglow represents a complete rewrite of Solana's consensus algorithm. The change promises to dramatically reduce finality times and enable shorter slot times—potentially cutting the time users wait for transaction confirmation. Perhaps more significantly for the validator ecosystem, Albumglow eliminates the costly vote transaction system.

Currently, validators must send vote transactions to confirm the chain's state, paying roughly one Solana per day in fees regardless of their stake size. This creates a regressive system where smaller validators effectively subsidize larger ones—an acknowledged design flaw that Albumglow will correct by removing vote transaction fees entirely. For smaller validators struggling with tight margins, this change could meaningfully improve economic viability.

Double Zero: Fiber Network Infrastructure

Double Zero aims to replace standard internet routing with a high-performance fiber network optimized for blockchain communications. Chorus One's testing revealed that the technology significantly helps reduce latency for geographically distant peers, though improvements for nearby nodes remain in development.

The most promising application may be for RPCs (Remote Procedure Calls), the interface applications use to read and write blockchain data. Better RPC infrastructure through Double Zero could give developers and users faster access to block space, improving the overall experience of building on and using Solana applications.

Proposer-Builder Separation Debate

Ethereum pioneered separating block building from block validation, and similar approaches are now being explored for Solana. In the current system, validators receive transactions, create blocks, and participate in consensus—all-in-one role. PBS would split these functions, with specialized builders competing to create optimal blocks and validators simply choosing the highest-bidding proposal.

Jito's BAM (Block Auction Marketplace) represents one approach, running block building in a trusted execution environment to guarantee specific processing behaviors. While this could standardize block production and improve predictability for DeFi developers, it concentrates power in fewer nodes and reduces validator autonomy. A critical unknown is the adoption threshold—BAM likely needs a very high percentage of network participation to function effectively.

Harmonic takes a different approach, more closely mirroring Ethereum's competitive builder market where multiple builders propose blocks and validators choose among them. This preserves innovation and competition but may favor profit-maximizing strategies over user-friendly ones.

Multiple Concurrent Proposals: The Game Changer

The most transformative change on Solana's horizon is Multiple Concurrent Proposals (MCP), which Crain called "one of the most ambitious changes in all of blockchain architecture." Instead of one leader producing a block during their slot, many leaders—potentially 15, 20, or even 100—would simultaneously create partial blocks.

This architectural shift would fundamentally break current MEV (Maximal Extractable Value) games. Current scheduler strategies rely on timing—waiting and acting at precise moments to extract value. When multiple leaders compete to include the same transactions simultaneously, with the fastest inclusion winning, these timing strategies become ineffective. MCP would effectively obsolete current solutions like BAM and Harmonic in their existing forms.

Beyond MEV implications, MCP could dramatically reduce latency by distributing leaders globally, giving users quick confirmations regardless of their location. The timeline suggests early 2027 for potential implementation, though second-order effects remain uncertain.

Facts + Figures

• Solana currently processes approximately 400 user transactions per block, making it one of the most economically active blockchains

• Block times have finally achieved consistent sub-400 millisecond performance after years of running at 500-600 milliseconds

• Validators currently pay approximately one Solana per day in vote transaction fees regardless of stake size

• Priority fee revenue is at a two-year low following the memecoin and Trump-related activity boom earlier in 2025

• Chorus One has been involved with Solana since 2018, pre-dating mainnet launch

• Multiple Concurrent Proposals could involve anywhere from 15 to 100 simultaneous block producers

• MCP implementation timeline is estimated for early 2027

• Chorus One helped patch a critical vulnerability before mainnet that could have allowed unlimited Solana minting

• The company built the first liquid staking solution on Solana and pioneered early MEV research on the network

Top Quotes

"Despite all of the success of Solana, the ultimate vision is still far away. And the network is also still far away from being able to accommodate that vision."

"The small ones are paying to the big ones. It really doesn't make any sense."

"If those things happen really, we'll have a completely different network, it will look completely different."

"All of these MEV games, scheduling things we saw earlier, it all depends on waiting and taking some time and then doing something, but if 10 people all try to create a block at the same time, they get the same transaction, and then whoever includes it first sort of gets the rewards, it makes it very difficult to do that."

"Multiple Concurrent Proposals is really one of the most ambitious changes in all of blockchain architecture."

"Solana's culture has always been one of radical innovation and just reinventing itself and pushing the limits."

"It might actually be the kind of network that's now able to accommodate a massive amount of economic activity that's able to have trading and exchanges work on Solana at a really high level of performance."

Questions Answered

Why do validators currently have to pay fees and how is this changing?

Validators must send vote transactions to confirm the chain's state, which costs roughly one Solana per day regardless of how much stake they hold. This creates a problematic dynamic where smaller validators—who can least afford fixed costs—effectively subsidize larger validators who absorb these costs more easily. Albumglow, the upcoming consensus rewrite, will eliminate vote transaction fees entirely. This change should improve the economic viability of running smaller validators and remove what Crain describes as a system that "doesn't make any sense."

What are custom schedulers and why do they matter?

Custom schedulers determine how validators process transactions during their block production slot. Different schedulers have emerged with varying strategies: some process transactions immediately, others wait until the end of the slot to maximize revenue capture, and solutions like Jito's BAM maintain a regular cadence throughout. While this competition drives innovation and can increase validator earnings, it creates significant unpredictability for application developers trying to build reliable user experiences. This diversity reflects Solana's innovation culture but highlights the tension between validator profitability and developer needs.

How would Multiple Concurrent Proposals change MEV on Solana?

MCP would fundamentally disrupt current MEV extraction strategies. Today's approaches rely on timing—schedulers and searchers wait for optimal moments to process or include transactions. With multiple leaders simultaneously competing to include the same transactions, where the fastest wins, these timing games become impractical. Current solutions like Jito's BAM and the proposed Harmonic system would need complete redesigns to function in an MCP world. This could level the playing field and reduce the value that can be extracted from users through sophisticated ordering strategies.

What is Double Zero and how does it improve Solana?

Double Zero is a high-performance fiber network designed to replace standard internet routing for blockchain communications. Testing by Chorus One showed significant latency improvements for geographically distant peers, though nearby node performance improvements are still being developed. The primary benefit may come through faster RPC infrastructure, giving applications quicker read and write access to blockchain data. This could improve user experience across all Solana applications, particularly time-sensitive ones like trading platforms.

When will these major changes arrive on Solana?

The timeline varies by feature, but the most transformative change—Multiple Concurrent Proposals—is estimated for early 2027. Other changes like Albumglow and Double Zero are on faster tracks, though specific dates weren't provided. Crain emphasized that these changes are ambitious enough to create "a completely different network" that could finally deliver on Solana's vision of serving as global internet capital markets infrastructure.

Why is Solana's current economic activity concerning?

Despite high transaction volumes, priority fee revenue—the premium users pay for faster processing—sits at a two-year low. This follows an extreme boom earlier in 2025 driven by memecoin and Trump-related activity. The decline creates pressure on validator earnings and raises questions about sustainable demand for Solana block space. The upcoming architectural changes aim to attract more consistent, high-value economic activity by improving performance to levels needed for demanding use cases like professional trading.