Solana Briefly Hits 100K TPS in Mainnet Stress Test

- Solana achieves over 100,000 TPS in stress test using "noop" transactions. - Real-world throughput remains around 1,050 TPS, excluding validator votes. On August 18, 2025, Cointelegraph reported that Solana's blockchain set a remarkable benchmark during a stress test, momentarily exceeding 100,000 transactions per second (TPS) by leveraging "noop" program calls. These transactions demand minimal computation and do not alter the blockchain's state. This achievement highlights Solana's potential maximum processing capacity under specific test conditions. However, the practical realities of the network paint a more nuanced picture. While a Solana developer suggested the milestone could equate to a throughput of 80,000 to 100,000 TPS for typical functions like token transfers or oracle updates, actual on-chain performance remains far below this ceiling. Validator voting transactions make up a significant share of network activity, and excluding these, Solana's effective throughput hovers around 1,050 TPS. These figures underscore the gap between theoretical performance and real-world application. Amid these technical milestones, memecoins continue to dominate user activity on Solana, fueling transactions and engagement across the network. Simultaneously, the blockchain’s decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem has experienced notable momentum, with its total value locked (TVL) soaring to $10.7 billion and approaching historical peaks. These trends illustrate the robustness of Solana's ecosystem despite its throughput constraints. Meanwhile, Solana's native token (SOL) has faced downward market pressure alongside broader cryptocurrency declines. Following the recent updates, SOL's price dropped from $208 to $187, which marks a 36% plunge from its all-time high of $293. This decline reflects macroeconomic and market-wide factors rather than specific network developments. According to the latest market data, Solana (SOL) traded at $183.29 as of August 18 at 05:14 UTC. The token's 24-hour trading volume decreased by 5.21%.