In 2025 on August 17th, Solana broke into history by achieving 100,000 transactions per second (TPS) on mainnet. It peaked at 107,540 TPS in a single block. This marked the first time a major blockchain crossed the six-figure mark outside of the test net. It showcased Solana’s 100k TPS capability.
The record was set by validator “Cavey Cool” and announced by Mert Mumtaz, co-founder of Helius. Mostly “noop” operations were used, which are simple program calls that don’t change the blockchain state. While these weren’t actual financial transactions, they did use enough resources to show Solana’s true capacity. Mumtaz reported that under ideal conditions, the network could see 80,000 -100,000 TPS for tasks like transfers or oracle updates. This demonstrates Solana’s potential to handle 100k TPS even in real-world applications.
Solana 100K TPS vs. Real Usage
Despite that achievement, in day-to-day use of Solana the picture is different. According to Solscan, the network average is about 3,700 TPS. Real user action is more in the order of 1,000 TPS. There is a gap between what’s reported and what users are doing, which in turn is from validator voting that makes up two-thirds of network activity. This does not represent user adoption. Nonetheless, achieving Solana 100k TPS on test net remains a notable milestone.
Adding to this report, memecoin trading is very much at home in the Solana ecosystem. Pump.fun, for instance, represents 62% of total value locked (TVL). This concentration causes sustainability issues when compared to more diverse DeFi or enterprise applications. However, achieving Solana’s potential 100k TPS could diversify its application beyond just memecoin trading.
Still, Solana’s broader metrics show strength: TVL is over $10B. We have taken in 7% of the DeFi market share, which also saw the SOL TVL hit its 2022 high. There is growth in institutional interest, which has secured VanEck, Bitwise, and 21Shares to put forward SEC-reviewed Solana ETF applications. This growth highlights confidence in Solana 100k TPS capabilities.
Alpenglow Upgrade: Solana’s Future Step.
At the time of the 100K TPS achievement, Solana validators set to work on the Alpenglow upgrade (SIMD-0326). This is the first major consensus update since launch. The upgrade aims to consistently support 100k TPS under real user conditions.
- Block finality reduction to 100–150 ms
- Elimination of vote transaction inflation
- Reduce validator costs by as much as 20%.
If passed, Alpenglow could position Solana for Web2-level responsiveness, enabling real-time gaming, AI integrations, and high-frequency DeFi. However, governance hurdles and risks of excluding smaller validators remain. The new upgrade will be essential for supporting Solana’s big claim of 100k TPS in daily use cases.
Solana reaching the 100K TPS mark is a milestone in blockchain performance. At the same time, the gap between stress tests and real-world application is great. Its success will depend on the Alpenglow rollout and expansion into different use cases beyond memecoins. Securing institutional support is also key. For the time being, Solana is a high-performance blockchain that shows great promise. However, it has yet to prove that it can take its tech achievements and turn them into practical value. Reaching Solana 100k TPS is just the beginning.
