A recent report from the Chorus One team revealed how validators on the Solana blockchain manipulate block production to increase their financial rewards, which can negatively affect ordinary network participants.
How Validators Generate Extra Rewards
According to the report, validators can slightly delay block production to pack more transactions into their assigned slots. As validators earn rewards from transaction fees, this tactic allows them to collect more fees per unit of compute.
By combining timing games with compute optimization, validators can boost rewards by as much as 3%. While this figure may seem small, most validator costs are fixed, meaning the additional rewards translate directly into higher profit margins.
Impact on Network Users
The main concern with timing games is that slowing down block production impacts inflation mechanics, reducing the rewards that SOL stakers receive while boosting earnings for the validators engaging in the practice.
The benefits also skew toward large validators with advanced hardware and significant staked holdings, putting smaller operators at a disadvantage and contributing to network centralization.
Solutions to the Client Issue
To address the issue, Chorus One recommends that Solana update or replace its primary validator client, Agave. Firedancer, a competing client, offers comparable efficiency without introducing slot delays, effectively eliminating the timing advantage.
Issues related to validator manipulation require careful consideration to prevent negative consequences for users on the Solana network. Updating client software may be one of the steps toward a fairer ecosystem.
