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Network

Banking Stage

The critical TPU pipeline stage in which Solana validators execute transactions, update account state, and produce entries that will be packed into a block. Banking stage receives forwarded transactions from the fetch and sigverify stages, acquires account locks via the scheduler, runs transactions through the SVM, and writes results to the accounts database. It is the computational heart of block production and is where compute unit limits, priority fee ordering, and parallel execution all converge.

IDbanking-stage
Plain meaning

Plain meaning

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The critical TPU pipeline stage in which Solana validators execute transactions, update account state, and produce entries that will be packed into a block. Banking stage receives forwarded transactions from the fetch and sigverify stages, acquires account locks via the scheduler, runs transactions through the SVM, and writes results to the accounts database. It is the computational heart of block production and is where compute unit limits, priority fee ordering, and parallel execution all converge.

Mental model

Mental model

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Banking Stage (banking-stage)
Category: Network
Definition: The critical TPU pipeline stage in which Solana validators execute transactions, update account state, and produce entries that will be packed into a block. Banking stage receives forwarded transactions from the fetch and sigverify stages, acquires account locks via the scheduler, runs transactions through the SVM, and writes results to the accounts database. It is the computational heart of block production and is where compute unit limits, priority fee ordering, and parallel execution all converge.
Related: TPU (Transaction Processing Unit), Scheduler, Transaction
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Concept graph

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Branch

TPU (Transaction Processing Unit)

Transaction Processing Unit—the pipeline within a leader validator that ingests, verifies, and executes transactions. The TPU has stages: fetch (receive packets via QUIC), sigverify (verify Ed25519 signatures), banking (execute against current bank state), and broadcast (shred and send via Turbine). Non-leader validators forward transactions to the current leader's TPU.

TVU (Transaction Validation Unit)Leader Schedule
Open term
Branch

Scheduler

The component within Solana's TPU pipeline responsible for ordering transactions from the banking stage's queues, acquiring account read/write locks, and dispatching transactions to worker threads for execution. The scheduler enforces account conflict serialization (ensuring write-locked accounts are processed by only one thread at a time) while maximizing parallelism across non-conflicting transactions. Solana has iterated on scheduler designs (including the central scheduler introduced in 2024) to improve throughput and reduce lock contention under load.

Parallel Transaction Execution
Open term
Branch

Transaction

An atomic unit of execution containing one or more instructions, a recent blockhash, and one or more signatures. All instructions in a transaction execute sequentially and atomically—if any instruction fails, the entire transaction reverts. Transactions have a 1,232-byte size limit (matching IPv6 MTU) and a default 200,000 CU budget.

InstructionSignature
Open term
Next concepts to explore

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Core Protocol

TPU (Transaction Processing Unit)

Transaction Processing Unit—the pipeline within a leader validator that ingests, verifies, and executes transactions. The TPU has stages: fetch (receive packets via QUIC), sigverify (verify Ed25519 signatures), banking (execute against current bank state), and broadcast (shred and send via Turbine). Non-leader validators forward transactions to the current leader's TPU.

Open term
Network

Scheduler

The component within Solana's TPU pipeline responsible for ordering transactions from the banking stage's queues, acquiring account read/write locks, and dispatching transactions to worker threads for execution. The scheduler enforces account conflict serialization (ensuring write-locked accounts are processed by only one thread at a time) while maximizing parallelism across non-conflicting transactions. Solana has iterated on scheduler designs (including the central scheduler introduced in 2024) to improve throughput and reduce lock contention under load.

Open term
Programming Model

Transaction

An atomic unit of execution containing one or more instructions, a recent blockhash, and one or more signatures. All instructions in a transaction execute sequentially and atomically—if any instruction fails, the entire transaction reverts. Transactions have a 1,232-byte size limit (matching IPv6 MTU) and a default 200,000 CU budget.

Open term
Network

Base Fee

The fixed, non-negotiable minimum fee charged per transaction signature on Solana, currently set at 5,000 lamports (0.000005 SOL) per signature. A transaction with N signatures pays N × 5,000 lamports as a base fee regardless of compute usage or network load. Fifty percent of the base fee is burned and fifty percent is paid to the current slot leader, making Solana mildly deflationary with usage.

Open term
Commonly confused with

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Networkbundle-simulation

Bundle Simulation

The process of executing a Jito bundle against the current chain state in a sandboxed environment to verify that all transactions in the bundle succeed and produce the expected outcome before committing real tips and submitting to the Block Engine. Simulation catches issues like stale state, insufficient balances, or failed arbitrage conditions, preventing searchers from paying tips for bundles that would fail on-chain. Jito provides simulateBundle API endpoints for this purpose.

Open term
Related terms

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Core Protocoltpu

TPU (Transaction Processing Unit)

Transaction Processing Unit—the pipeline within a leader validator that ingests, verifies, and executes transactions. The TPU has stages: fetch (receive packets via QUIC), sigverify (verify Ed25519 signatures), banking (execute against current bank state), and broadcast (shred and send via Turbine). Non-leader validators forward transactions to the current leader's TPU.

Open term
Networkscheduler

Scheduler

The component within Solana's TPU pipeline responsible for ordering transactions from the banking stage's queues, acquiring account read/write locks, and dispatching transactions to worker threads for execution. The scheduler enforces account conflict serialization (ensuring write-locked accounts are processed by only one thread at a time) while maximizing parallelism across non-conflicting transactions. Solana has iterated on scheduler designs (including the central scheduler introduced in 2024) to improve throughput and reduce lock contention under load.

Open term
Programming Modeltransaction

Transaction

An atomic unit of execution containing one or more instructions, a recent blockhash, and one or more signatures. All instructions in a transaction execute sequentially and atomically—if any instruction fails, the entire transaction reverts. Transactions have a 1,232-byte size limit (matching IPv6 MTU) and a default 200,000 CU budget.

Open term
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Network

Mainnet Beta

Solana's primary production cluster where real SOL and real economic activity occur; the "beta" designation reflects the network's ongoing protocol development despite being fully live since March 2020. It uses the same architecture as other clusters but with real validator stakes, live staking rewards, and permanent on-chain state. All production dApps, tokens, and NFTs exist on Mainnet Beta.

Open term
Network

Devnet

A persistent public Solana cluster intended for application development and testing, running the same software version as Mainnet Beta but with no real economic value. Devnet SOL can be freely airdropped via the CLI or faucet APIs, and the ledger may be reset periodically by Solana Labs. Developers use Devnet to test programs and integrations before deploying to Mainnet Beta.

Open term
Network

Testnet

A public Solana cluster used primarily by the Solana core team and validators to test new software releases, performance benchmarks, and network upgrades under real network conditions before they reach Mainnet Beta. Testnet SOL has no monetary value, and the ledger is reset more frequently than Devnet; it is less suitable for application development and more suited for validator operators validating their infrastructure.

Open term
Network

TPS (Transactions Per Second)

The rate at which a Solana cluster processes and commits transactions; Solana's theoretical maximum exceeds 65,000 TPS due to its parallel execution model, though real-world sustained throughput on Mainnet Beta typically ranges from 2,000–5,000 non-vote TPS under normal load. Vote transactions (used for consensus) make up a significant portion of all on-chain activity and are counted separately. High TPS is enabled by Proof of History timestamps, Sealevel parallel execution, and Gulf Stream mempool-less forwarding.

Open term