Solana Developers Propose 100M Compute Unit Limit to Tackle Network Congestion

Solana’s core development team is preparing to significantly raise the network’s computational capacity with a new proposal. The Solana compute unit limit increase aims to meet the growing demands of high-performance decentralized applications (dApps).

Solana targets 66% boost in per-block compute power

Under a freshly introduced technical document, SIMD-0286, developers propose boosting the Solana network’s per-block compute unit (CU) limit from 60 million to 100 million. This Solana compute unit limit proposal represents a 66% expansion, which will allow more throughput, minimize congestion, and support developing use cases in decentralized finance (DeFi), restaking protocols, and networks of real-world assets.

Currently, each Solana block spans around 400 milliseconds. During this brief period, validators handle a defined number of compute units that determine how much work can be done. The proposed increase would enable more complex or higher-volume transactions to be processed per block.

Consequently, applications like order-book-based decentralized exchanges and maximal extractable value (MEV) platforms will have more room to operate without any limits from compute constraints.

Addressing Developer and Application Demands

The proposed Solana compute unit limit increase comes amid growing pressure from developers seeking more execution space. Since the last compute limit adjustment enabled by SIMD-0256 on July 23, the network has reached a sustained average of 1,700 transactions per second during peak traffic. Yet, emerging applications continue to strain block limits, particularly during NFT mints or DePIN protocol events.

Restaking infrastructure, which layers additional rewards and security mechanisms over existing stakes, has further intensified demand for compute headroom. Moreover, many DeFi builders require space for multi-step logic within a single transaction. By raising the limit to 100 million CUs, Solana developers aim to eliminate these bottlenecks and open the door to the next generation of applications.

Validator Readiness and Broader Ecosystem Context

The Solana compute unit limit increase is not immediate. Developers are already testing the update, which will be included in an upcoming software release.

Once validators upgrade and collectively adopt the new ceiling, the changes will automatically activate during a future epoch. This decentralized governance model ensures broad consensus and network stability during transitions.

Meanwhile, competing blockchains are also evolving. Ethereum recently implemented its Pectra hard fork to improve ephemeral data blob handling for rollups.