Solana’s internal clock is approximately 30 minutes behind real time. The developers stressed that the issue does not affect network performance.

“Timing on-chain delays wall clocks by about 30 minutes due to longer-than-normal block times. While this doesn’t affect network performance or performance, the time reported to browsers and dappsmay not display properly, ”the developers wrote.

Solana blockchain uses Proof-of-Stake as the consensus algorithm, but the Proof-of-History (PoH) mechanism is responsible for timing the network.

The problem is due to the increased time (slot time) it takes for the validator to send the block to the network. The reference slot time in the Solana network is 400ms. At the time of writing, it averages 756ms according to Solana Explorer.

Validators in the Solana network are combined into clusters that are responsible for processing transactions on the blockchain. The PoH algorithm allows all cluster nodes to track time in a synchronized and decentralized manner.

When the socket time value exceeds the reference value, the internal clock of the cluster is reset, so the network loses synchronization with the real time. This has economic consequences for the participants in the ecosystem.

The timing error leads to an increase in the duration of the epoch as each must have 432,000 slots. In the reference time frame, 182 periods change per year – each lasting 2-3 days. An increase in the top means fewer periods.

Solana bet rewards are paid out once per period. Reducing their number directly affects the revenue received by the validators and delegates of the network.

Recall that on the night of May 1, 2020, the Solana blockchain suspended operation due to the large number of incoming transactions and heavy traffic.