• Solana Blockchain experienced a “large forking event” on Saturday, February 25th, 2023, causing transaction slowdowns and some failures.
• A coordinated restart was launched to accelerate block finalization.
• Validator operators had to follow instructions to take a snapshot at slot 179526408, modify validator command-lines, install version 1.13.6 and then restart the validator.

Solana Blockchain Experiences Technical Glitch

On Saturday, February 25th, 2023 the Solana smart contract token network experienced a technical glitch known as a „large forking event,“ causing transaction slowdowns and some failure for users.

Solana Deals With ‚Large Forking Event‘

At around 6:37 UTC on Saturday, users reported significant slowdown in block finalization and some transaction failures due to the forking event. Liquid staking pool Solblaze stated that while Solana did not completely stop block production, there was a slowdown due to the issue. Validator operators and Solana engineers collaborated to identify the underlying cause of the issue and launched a coordinated restart procedure in order to resolve it.

Restart Procedure

Validators were required to take a snapshot at slot 179526408, modify validator command-lines, install the previous version 1.13.6, and then restart the validator in order for block finalization to speed up again. This is similar to issues encountered by the blockchain last year resulting in multiple block production outages.

Similar Issues Last Year

The Solana Status update website referred to the issue as „cluster instability“ indicating that Solana engineers are investigating slow root production on mainnet beta and that they had launched a coordinated restart procedure in order to address it successfully.

Conclusion

Solana has been experiencing technical issues since last year but this time around they have managed successfully launch a coordinated restart procedure which should help them resolve their current issues with transactions slowing down or failing altogether due their recent large forking event occurring on Saturday February 25th 2023

• NFT sales rose 43.97% this week, totaling $397.86 million with 345,716 buyers and 1.62 million transactions.
• Ethereum-based NFTs accounted for 90% of total sales, while Otherdeed was the top-selling collection with $47,043,296 in sales.
• Blur outpaced Opensea as the leading marketplace this week, capturing 66% of the market share.

NFT Sales Surge

Non-fungible token (NFT) assets saw a surge in sales over the last seven days – 43.97% higher than the previous week – reaching $397.86 million with 345,716 buyers and 1.62 million transactions recorded on Feb 18th 2023.

Ethereum Dominates NFT Market

Ethereum-based NFT sales dominated the market with $360.32 million in total sales (90%), followed by Solana ($18,790,359). Other collections such as Azuki, Moonbirds, Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC), and Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) also experienced increases in sales compared to last week’s figures.

Top Selling Collection

The top selling collection of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) this week was Otherdeed with a total sale figure of $47,043,296; up 160.21% from last week’s results.

Blur Outpaces Opensea

According to weekly metrics from both dappradar.com and Dune Analytics; The NFT marketplace Blur has outpaced the leading market Opensea this week by capturing more than 66% of market share compared to 23%. Dappradar’s top five marketplaces across various chains are: Blur (66%), Opensea (23%), X2Y2 Immutable X Marketplace(3%), Lookrare(3%).

Conclusion

Non-fungible token asset sales continue to rise in 2023 and Ethereum dominates the NFT space with its wide range of applications and user base that continues to grow rapidly each day since its launch back in 2015

• Paypal exploring launch of stablecoin: In the first week of 2023, payment service giant Paypal said it was exploring the launch of a stablecoin and would work closely with financial regulators.
• Paypal puts concept on hold: On Feb. 10, a source noted that Paypal has put the concept on hold for now amid the regulatory scrutiny of the crypto industry.
• Regulatory Concerns Growing: There has been a significant crackdown on cryptocurrency businesses following the collapse of FTX, including Nexo agreeing to settle with SEC and Kraken being fined $30 million for its staking service program.

Paypal Exploring Launch of Stablecoin

During the first week of 2023, payment service giant Paypal said it was exploring the launch of a stablecoin. At the time, an executive at Paypal stated that if the company moved forward, it would work closely with financial regulators.

Paypal Puts Concept On Hold

However, on Feb. 10, a source noted that Paypal has put the concept on hold for now amid the regulatory scrutiny of the crypto industry.

Regulatory Scrutiny Of Crypto Industry

• SHIB jumped 13% on Saturday, hitting a 4-month high.
• Dogecoin also moved higher, breaking out of a recent ceiling in the process.
• Both coins saw an increase in momentum as the RSI broke through key resistance levels.

Cryptocurrency Markets Consolidate

Cryptocurrency markets were mostly consolidating on Saturday, with many assets trading sideways or within tight ranges. Despite this, two of the most popular meme coins still managed to achieve significant gains throughout the day.

Shiba Inu (SHIB)

Shiba Inu (SHIB) extended recent gains into the weekend, as prices rose by as much as 13%. This surge took prices to their highest point since October 29th and resulted in a breakout of a price ceiling at $0.00001290. The relative strength index also moved beyond its ceiling at 74.00 earlier in the day, reaching a 12-day high of 79.15 before retreating slightly.

Dogecoin (DOGE)

Dogecoin (DOGE) was also able to make headway during Saturday’s session, with prices rising from a low of $0.09107 to an intraday peak of $0.09489 over the course of the day’s trading period. As a result of this move, DOGE/USD broke out above its price ceiling at $0.0935 and appeared set for further bullish momentum until the RSI collided with resistance at 63.00 level causing bulls to retreat and prices to consolidate once more around $0.09383 currently..

Biggest Movers: SHIB Jumps 13%

Shiba Inu (SHIB) and Dogecoin (DOGE) were some of biggest movers in cryptocurrency markets on Saturday, with both coins managing to break out from key price ceilings despite overall market consolidation during that time period . Both SHIB/USD and DOGE/USD had their highest points since October 29th and March 16th respectively due to today’s surge which saw SHIB climb by up to 13%, while DOGE rose above its previous resistance level at 09350 USDT momentarily before briefly retracing back down again towards current levels around 09380 USDT

Conclusion

Despite cryptocurrency markets consolidating on Saturday, Shiba Inu (SHIB) and Dogecoin (DOGE) managed to outperform other assets by achieving significant gains throughout today’s session due largely in part thanks to their respective breakouts past key price ceilings that were previously holding them back from continuing this upward trend further over recent weeks