Solana is a rapidly growing blockchain network as well as an exponentially appreciating
cryptocurrency. As a new network, launched just in 2020, Solana was created to compete with
the current crypto giants such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Cardano by offering “exponentially
faster transaction speeds than its closest competitors” (Adams, 2024). As a new company, Solana
has realized significant milestones, but also encountered various technological hurdles. This
paper aims to describe how six sigma can be used to solve just one of these obstacles. The
problem to be addressed at Solana is the “degradation of the Solana blockchain fault tolerance”,
which has resulted in about 40% failed transaction rate in the past year (Mark, 2024).
Six sigma is “a method that provides organization tools to improve the capability of their
business processes,” which is a perfect tool to address Solana’s transaction processing capacity
issue (ASQ, 2024). Solana can implement six sigma by following the DMAIC approach to
identify, quantify, and then eliminate inefficiencies in their processes. The DMAIC approach
consists of five steps: define, measure, analyze, improve, and control. While Solana’s network
was “designed to handle high throughput with fast transaction speeds” at low costs, it is clear
from the unfavorable increase in failed transactions that their process needs improvement (Mark,
2024). In addition to being a methodology, six sigma also provides a measurable goal of
increasing quality by reducing defects to be only 3.4 per 1,000,000 opportunities (SixSigma.us,
2024). This 99.9997% successful transaction rate seems like a lofty goal when compared to the
current 40% success rate, but with the help of six sigma, continuous improvement is possible.
The first step towards implementing six sigma at Solana is to define the problem. While
several issues can be identified, it is important to key in on one and address it. The problem to
address is the large number of failed transactions on the Solana network. “Analysts have claimed
that many failed transactions on Solana are due to arbitrage bots spamming the network with
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trades” and this was supported by a Dune Analytics study that discovered “more than 92% of
failed transactions were suffered by bots” (Kubinec, 2024). A bot can be defined as a trader who
makes more than 5,000 transactions in a day. These “bots” create congestion in the Solana
network causing a stall in throughput and failed transactions. Now that the problem has been
defined and identified, it’s time to measure current performance. Some key performance metrics
that can be found on Solana’s website include, 29.7 million fee paying accounts, all time, 340+
NFTs minted, $0.00064 median fee per transaction, 3,082 transactions per second, and
334,000,000,000+ and counting total transactions (Solana Foundation, 2024). The third step in
the six-sigma method is to analyze the performance metrics previously stated. The low
transaction fee and fast transaction speeds are what drive Solana’s competitiveness and
increasing in the blockchain market. The total transaction count is evidence of the massive
demand for the capabilities of the network, but how can Solana improve to keep up?
Solana can and must improve their processes by increasing capacity to accommodate a
higher throughput of transactions, which will allow them to maintain low, competitive
transaction fees. As you would expect, this is actively being addressed by the company. In fact,
Anatoly Yakovenko, CEO of Solana Labs announced the development of “Firedancer,” a “new
third party validator client software for the Solana blockchain that aims to improve the network’s
efficiency and transaction processing capabilities” (kraken, 2024). Essentially, new validator
client software will make transactions more secure from bugs as well as increase transaction
processing capacity up to 1 million transactions per second. Once this new software is
implemented, Solana will need to control and sustain improvements. In the everchanging digital
blockchain landscape, updates, patches, and bug fixes are inevitable. It will be crucial for Solana
to perform significant testing prior to integrating Firedancer as well as ongoingly monitoring the
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key performance metrics of the network to solidify gains and continue improving. It may seem
like an impossible task for Solana to reduce their failure rate from around 40% to the six-sigma
quality level of .0003%, but every company must start somewhere. It is worth noting that Solana
is a fairly new company, founded in just 2017. It is clear that Solana leadership displays a growth
mindset and are actively taking steps towards applying the six-sigma methodology to improve
the quality of their network. Improvement will be measured by a decrease in the failed
transaction rate and an ability to maintain low transaction fees.
The idea of continuous improvement is not a concept confined to business and operations. In
fact, the Bible has a lot to say when it comes to our ongoing spiritual and personal growth in
faith and character. One excellent example of this is found in Philippians 3:7-14. In the context
of this passage, Paul is telling the Philippians that knowing Christ is the greatest thing in life and
the ultimate prize. He goes on to say in verse 12 and 14, “Not that I have already obtained all
this, or have already arrived at my goal,Ibut I press on to take holdIof that for which Christ Jesus
took hold of me… I press onItoward the goal to win the prizeIfor which God has calledIme
heavenward in Christ Jesus” (New International Version, Phil. 3:12,14). There are two key
takeaways from this passage. First, Paul, one of the most spiritually mature people in history,
recognizes that he has not reached perfection. In the same way, in even the greatest, most
efficient businesses, there is never a point where continuous improvement is not needed and
shouldn’t be pursued. The second takeaway is the urgency with which Paul pursues the goal. He
uses strong language such as “press on to take hold.” Likewise, businesses should pursue
continuous improvement with vigor. Whether that be with the six-sigma or another methodology,
the constant improvement of businesses is what drives competition in the free market. Finally,
this growth initiative must start at the top or else it will not succeed. Proverbs 11:14 warns us,
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Works Cited:
Adams, M. (2024, May 13). What is Solana? how does it work?. Forbes.
https://www.forbes.com/advisor/investing/cryptocurrency/what-is-solana/
ASQ. (2024). Six sigma definition - what is Lean Six Sigma? | ASQ. Excellence Through Quality.
https://asq.org/quality-resources/six-sigma
Jack Kubinec, J. A. (2024, May 22). Lightspeed newsletter: Solana’s failing transactions.
Blockworks. https://blockworks.co/news/lightspeed-newsletter-dropped-solana-
transactions
kraken. (2024). What is firedancer, and why is it big for Solana?. What is Firedancer, and why is
it big for Solana? https://www.kraken.com/learn/what-is-firedancer-solana
Mark. (2024, April 16). Solana’s (sol) chain throughput challenges: What’s next? Medium.
https://medium.com/coinmonks/solanas-sol-chain-throughput-challenges-what-s-next-
ce8e0b938b02
The Holy Bible, New International Version. (2011). BibleGateway.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=philippians%203&version=NIV
SixSigma.us. (2024, September 20). A complete guide to Six sigma defects per million (2024).
SixSigma.us.
Solana Foundation. (2024). Web3 infrastructure for everyone. Solana. https://solana.com/
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