- Solana’s Frankendancer network upgrade has gone live on Mainnet, enhancing performance and enabling up to 1.04 million transactions per second.
- Veteran trader Peter Brandt predicts SOL’s price could reach $420, driven by these upgrades and strong market fundamentals.
Solana’s highly anticipated Frankendancer network upgrade has officially gone live on Mainnet. This upgrade marks the beginning of Solana 2.0, aiming to enhance the network’s performance significantly. Firedancer, a new validator client, is currently running on the testnet and is expected to transition to Mainnet soon. The integration of Frankendancer, which incorporates elements of the Firedancer validator client, was demonstrated live by Jump Crypto at the 2024 Solana Breakpoint conference, indicating a positive outlook for the SOL price, which is already showing signs of a bullish reversal.
Key Features of the Frankendancer Upgrade
Jump Crypto provided a live demonstration of the Frankendancer on the Mainnet during the Solana Breakpoint conference. GitHub data confirms that the network upgrade is ready for Mainnet release, with validators set to adopt the new system. This significant update aims to integrate Firedancer, which will overhaul the three functional components of the Solana Labs client.
Helius Labs, a Solana developer, stated that the Frankendancer upgrade would optimize each level for maximum performance, allowing validator clients to operate at full capacity. The upgrade is designed to scale Solana’s bandwidth and hardware, enabling the network to process up to 1.04 million transactions per second (tps).
Moreover, the upgrade will document and standardize the Solana protocol, making it easier for anyone to create a validator by simply referring to the documentation, without needing to understand the Rust validator code. This enhancement will increase validator client diversity and improve the overall performance of the ecosystem.
Firedancer Validator Client and Network Improvements
In addition to Frankendancer, the Firedancer validator client is also live on Mainnet, albeit in non-voting mode. Jump Crypto revealed that this non-voting mode has been operational for about two months, though the timeline for the voting mode to go live remains unspecified. The combination of these upgrades positions Solana as a leader in network performance and reliability, particularly after the recent implementation of ZK Compression on its Mainnet.
SOL Price Predictions and Market Impact
Veteran trader Peter Brandt has projected that SOL’s price could reach as high as $420. In a recent post on X, Brandt noted that SOL has successfully maintained support at $120, a level it has retested multiple times during the latest market downturn. Brandt’s analysis suggests that this support level could act as a launchpad for a substantial price increase, potentially driving SOL towards its all-time high (ATH) of $260 and beyond.
Brandt had previously warned that a drop below the $120 support level could trigger significant selling pressure, pushing SOL down to $80. However, his latest analysis indicates that Solana is back in bullish territory, with strong fundamentals like the Frankendancer and Firedancer upgrades contributing to a positive market outlook.
The Frankendancer upgrade, coupled with the Firedancer validator client, provides a robust foundation for Solana’s continued growth and performance enhancement. Asset manager Franklin Templeton has highlighted that the Firedancer upgrade could resolve Solana’s network issues, including downtime, and propel SOL to rank among the top three cryptocurrencies alongside Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH). Currently, SOL holds the position of the fifth-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, but with these significant upgrades, its future looks promising.
