The Solana Network Enhancement Update will go live in May

Solana is gearing up for a major update that will be released for the mainnet beta on May 27th. Version v1.18 is critical for solving ongoing network congestion issues.

The upcoming v1.18 aims to significantly strengthen Solana's infrastructure.

Solana road map update to V1.18

The congestion problems have recently been exacerbated by the rise of bot-driven transactions involving meme coins, leading to transaction failures.

Solana's development team has been actively implementing a series of improvements designed to increase network performance in response to these challenges. Specifically, on April 13th, they announced version 1.18.11 on DevNet in collaboration with key infrastructure developer Anza. The validators are currently testing v1.18.

Validators play a vital role in the blockchain ecosystem. They verify transactions and help secure the network, making their goals essential to the success of the new update.

Feedback from this testing phase will be instrumental in ensuring the success of the upcoming mainnet-beta launch.

Read more: Solana vs. Ethereum: The Ultimate Comparison

Adding to their active steps, the developers released version 1.17.31 on April 15. This version is recommended for immediate use by MainnetBeta validators, which aims to alleviate congestion. It's part of a broader effort to stabilize the network amid fluctuating transaction volumes.

Despite these technical advances, Solana faces high market volatility. Its value is down more than 22 percent since the beginning of the month.

It hit a low of $116 in early April. However, the price has risen again, now trading around $158.