Solana launches Firedancer: new validation client to improve transactions and scalability

Source: Criptonoticias Original Title: Solana has a new software to validate transactions Original Link: https://www.criptonoticias.com/tecnologia/solana-nuevo-software-validar-transacciones-firedancer/

Introduction

Firedancer promises to improve how transactions are processed and how the network is organized. The price of SOL responds with volatility.

Kevin Bowers, a developer who is part of the Jump Crypto team, confirmed on December 12th the activation of Firedancer, a new validation client on the Solana mainnet.

A client is a software that allows validators to execute network rules and participate in consensus. Firedancer offers a third alternative to the only two clients previously available in this ecosystem: Agave and Jito-Labs (the latter is a fork of Agave).

Market Reaction

Coinciding with the integration of Firedancer into Solana, the native currency SOL experienced volatility movements: it rose from $136 to $140, then fell back to $132.

In January 2025, it was anticipated that Firedancer could be introduced into Solana. According to its developers, Firedancer aims to improve three core aspects of network operation: performance, scalability, and stability.

What does Firedancer contribute to Solana’s operation?

First, having more clients reduces the risk that a bug in a single implementation could affect the entire network. It also mitigates centralization risks.

At the time of this report, Agave accounts for more than 81% of Solana validators, while Jito holds 18.38%, and Firedancer 0.13% following its recent launch (around 800 in total).

Next, Firedancer aims to optimize how a validator processes data.

To achieve this, it uses a modular approach that separates different validator tasks (such as packet handling, signature verification, and block processing) into independent components.

This division seeks to improve efficiency and reduce bottlenecks in the information flow within Solana, a problem the network has faced in the past.

During beta testing of Firedancer, it was indicated that this client could process up to “1 million transactions”.

Block propagation optimization

The new client also improves node communication through Turbine, Solana’s block propagation protocol. Optimizing this flow means blocks can be distributed more evenly and quickly among validators.

In terms of benefits, Firedancer could offer:

• Faster transaction execution, thanks to more efficient handling of signatures and packets.
• Better fault tolerance, since a second client prevents dependence on a single development.
• Capacity to handle activity spikes, which is important during periods of high demand on high-traffic applications.

Technical features

Unlike the other clients Agave and Jito, which are written in the Rust programming language, Firedancer is developed with C and C++.

The first minutes of Firedancer

A screenshot of a validator’s monitoring panel using Firedancer shows that the validator processes 2,858 transactions per second (TPS), similar to the average reported by Solana explorers.

The fact that the TPS reported by Firedancer and explorers match indicates that the client provides a realistic view aligned with the network’s overall activity.

Additionally, at the bottom of the panel, titled “Shreds” (data category), it shows how the validator using Firedancer manages the fragments into which Solana divides blocks during propagation.

There appear categories such as “Repair Requested, Received Turbine, Replayed Turbine, Skipped, and Published”, representing different states of circulation of these shreds.

Some of these stages are directly related to the Turbine protocol (such as received and forwarded packets), while others are part of the validator’s general maintenance.

The presence and updating of these metrics confirm that Firedancer is processing, forwarding, and repairing data according to the actual network flow, demonstrating its operational integration.

Current context of Solana

Finally, Firedancer arrives at a challenging moment for Solana, as the network currently operates with a loss of nearly 70% of validators compared to three years ago.