Solana’s next-generation validator client, Firedancer, may not reach full speed on the network it was built for as technical limits push developers to test it elsewhere.
One of those developers is Douglas Colkitt, a former high-frequency trader who’s testing a hybrid validator setup called Frankendancer on Fogo, a Solana-compatible chain built to remove the constraints that currently prevent Firedancer from reaching its full potential on Solana.
Colkitt, a founding contributor at Fogo, said the new blockchain isn’t trying to replace Solana but does discard some of Solana’s core assumptions, such as globally distributed validator sets, to showcase how far Firedancer can go when speed takes priority over decentralization.
The push to run Firedancer outside Solana highlights a deeper split in blockchain infrastructure: the tension between decentralization and speed. These two have long been trade-offs, but more builders are now choosing to prioritize speed.
Why Firedancer can’t go full speed on Solana yet
Jump Trading developed Firedancer, a high-performance validator client aimed at boosting Solana’s throughput and reducing latency. But according to Colkitt, Solana’s architecture includes technical constraints that limit how fast Firedancer can operate in practice.
“If you have two clients running on the same network, you can only go as fast as the slowest client because otherwise the network risks halting,” he told Cointelegraph.
“It’s like driving a Ferrari in city traffic — no matter how fast the car is, you’re limited by the speed of the other vehicles around you.”
Solana currently supports two main validator client implementations: Agave and Firedancer. Agave is running on about 90% of validators as of Friday. Meanwhile, Firedancer is still in a transitional phase as Frankendancer, a hybrid combining Agave and Firedancer. It accounts for about 10% of validators, up from 7% in April.
Frankendancer’s hybrid approach allows for a gradual adoption of Firedancer’s improvements without risking network stability.
Solana’s network relies on a globally distributed set of validators. This geographic decentralization strengthens security by preventing any single party or region from gaining excessive control. It also enhances…
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