Record 75% of users txs are failing… or are they?

Roughly three-quarters of all transactions on the Solana network have been failing amid a deluge of activity brought by the recent memecoin mania on Solana, however, proponents say the data is being widely misinterpreted. 

Dune Analytics data shows that on April 4, just over 75% of all “non-vote” Solana transactions failed, the highest failure rate on record.

The uptick has been paralleled by a recent uproar from Solana users on social media, complaining of failed transactions and degraded user experience.

In an April 4 post to X, pseudonymous trader Altcoin Sherpa said that while he still believed Solana would cement itself as the blockchain network for retail adoption, he noted that the current user experience was currently less than ideal.

“As much as I think that SOL is the chain for retail this cycle — the experience is fucking brutal lately.”

Or maybe it’s bot spam 

However, in an April 4 post to X, vocal Solana proponent and Helius CEO Mert Mumtaz took issue with the claim that 75% of transactions were failing, noting that the vast majority of failed non-vote transactions were simply “bot spam.”

Related: Solana activity flips Ethereum amid memecoin craze, even as txs fail

“This is usually not a big problem for users because your wallet will simulate the [transaction] and let you know that it will not work beforehand anyway,” he said.

Mumtaz claimed that the failed transactions chart was “not a good way of assessing user impact as most users don’t make it there to begin [with].”

“About 95% of that entire chart is just bots failing arbitrage attempts,” he added.

Additionally, Mumtaz explained that because much of this spam activity occurs before the scheduling process, increasing transaction priority fees won’t help and that “increasing it above a certain median” will see users “waste money.”

He added that it was unlikely that the upcoming 1.18 Solana network upgrade would fix these issues, hinting that user experience on Solana could remain degraded for some time.

“Networking patches are what’s required, and those are rolling out soon.”

The price of Solana (SOL) has fallen around 3% in the last week, stumbling slightly after a 45% rally in the last month. Its recent weekly drawdown has seen it fall back to being the fifth-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, per CoinGecko data.

SOL currently commands a total value of $81 billion, trailing behind Binance’s BNB token (BNB) at $89 billion.

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