$SOL Solana Active Validators Drop 65%, Network Shrinking Or Optimizing?
The Solana network is undergoing a major structural purge as the number of network validators plunges to levels seen 5 years ago, raising significant questions about decentralization and system economics.
🔸 The number of daily active validators on Solana has dropped below 800, returning to 2021 levels. Compared to the peak of approximately 2,500 validators in early 2023, this figure has evaporated by over 65%. Consequently, vote transaction volume has also decreased by 40%, from 300,000 to 170,000 transactions per day.
🔸 The primary cause is attributed to shifts in economic efficiency, as subsidy support and staking matching policies from the Solana Foundation have gradually decreased, forcing inefficient validators out of the game.
🔸 However, the bright spot is that actual user activity (DApp interactions, token transfers) remains stable at 100 million transactions/day, indicating the platform is retaining capital and end-users despite the volatility at the infrastructure layer.
As the sharp drop in validators sparks concerns about centralization risks, is Solana trading off decentralization to achieve optimal economic efficiency for the network?
News is for reference, not investment advice. Please read carefully before making a decision.