Solana Engineer Proposes Core Change To Improve Block Efficiency

According to Blockworks, Anza engineer Tao Zhu has proposed a significant amendment to the Solana protocol aimed at enhancing the efficiency of Solana blocks. The proposal, detailed in Solana Improvement Document (SIMD) 0172, targets the current 'compute budget' program, which was initially implemented to prevent computational waste. Zhu argues that this program results in inefficient use of Solana blockspace. The compute budget is a line of code that determines the number of compute units (CUs) a transaction can use. Different transactions require varying amounts of CUs, and to avoid wasteful transactions, Solana sets a default limit of 200,000 CUs per transaction. Each Solana block can contain a maximum of 48 million CUs, with 200,000 CUs reserved for transactions with the default compute budget. Zhu believes this default is often an overestimation, leading to reserved but unused space within blocks. Zhu's proposal suggests reducing the default compute budget from 200,000 CUs to zero over 10 epochs, or approximately 20 days. This change would require transaction creators to request a more precise compute budget, allowing the 48 million CUs in a Solana block to accommodate more transactions. This adjustment could result in increased fees paid to validators, who have faced challenges recently. However, not all Solana developers agree with Zhu's proposed fix. Some argue that even with a default compute budget of zero, transactions would still need to include compute budget instructions, which count against the maximum data limit of 1232 bytes per transaction. These instructions currently occupy about 4% of the total data limit. Some developers suggest moving the compute budget to the transaction header, which is separate from the instructions and could take up fewer bytes. Zhu has mentioned the possibility of eliminating the compute budget program entirely in the future, but this is not part of the current proposal. The debate continues among Solana developers, with some expressing concerns that an interim fix could complicate matters further for developers. Despite differing opinions, the proposed changes aim to optimize Solana's block efficiency and improve the overall performance of the network.