A Solana-native scaling paradigm where an appchain runs its own SVM execution environment but settles state back to Solana L1, maintaining composability with Solana's programs and liquidity. Unlike general-purpose rollups that settle to other chains, network extensions are designed to scale specific applications (gaming, DeFi) within the Solana ecosystem.
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A Solana-native scaling paradigm where an appchain runs its own SVM execution environment but settles state back to Solana L1, maintaining composability with Solana's programs and liquidity. Unlike general-purpose rollups that settle to other chains, network extensions are designed to scale specific applications (gaming, DeFi) within the Solana ecosystem.
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Think of it as part of the chain machinery that keeps ordering, execution, or consensus moving.
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Consensus, leader rotation, slots, epochs, and the runtime.
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Network Extension (network-extension) Category: Core Protocol Definition: A Solana-native scaling paradigm where an appchain runs its own SVM execution environment but settles state back to Solana L1, maintaining composability with Solana's programs and liquidity. Unlike general-purpose rollups that settle to other chains, network extensions are designed to scale specific applications (gaming, DeFi) within the Solana ecosystem. Aliases: Chain Extension Related: Sonic SVM, Solana Virtual Machine (SVM), Rollup
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The first chain extension (appchain) on Solana, purpose-built for gaming applications using the HyperGrid framework. Sonic enables sovereign game economies that process millions of requests per second while settling back to Solana L1, reducing transaction costs by up to 100x compared to regular Solana transactions while maintaining native composability.
The Solana Virtual Machine—the execution environment that runs on-chain programs. SVM loads SBF bytecode, provides syscalls for account access and cryptographic operations, enforces compute budgets, and manages memory. The SVM is being modularized (via the SVM API) to enable use in rollups and other environments outside the main Solana validator.
A Layer 2 scaling technique that executes transactions off-chain, bundles them, and posts compressed data back to L1. Optimistic rollups assume transactions are valid and use fraud proofs for disputes (7-day challenge period). ZK rollups generate cryptographic validity proofs for every batch. Rollups inherit L1 security while providing 10-100x throughput improvement.
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The core mechanism of Proof of History. A SHA-256 hash is computed sequentially—each hash takes the previous hash as input—creating an ordered, unforgeable timestamp sequence. The PoH generator runs approximately 400,000 hashes per slot. Data (transactions) can be inserted into the chain by mixing their hash with the current state.
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The first chain extension (appchain) on Solana, purpose-built for gaming applications using the HyperGrid framework. Sonic enables sovereign game economies that process millions of requests per second while settling back to Solana L1, reducing transaction costs by up to 100x compared to regular Solana transactions while maintaining native composability.
The Solana Virtual Machine—the execution environment that runs on-chain programs. SVM loads SBF bytecode, provides syscalls for account access and cryptographic operations, enforces compute budgets, and manages memory. The SVM is being modularized (via the SVM API) to enable use in rollups and other environments outside the main Solana validator.
A Layer 2 scaling technique that executes transactions off-chain, bundles them, and posts compressed data back to L1. Optimistic rollups assume transactions are valid and use fraud proofs for disputes (7-day challenge period). ZK rollups generate cryptographic validity proofs for every batch. Rollups inherit L1 security while providing 10-100x throughput improvement.
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A clock mechanism that cryptographically proves the passage of time between events. PoH uses a sequential SHA-256 hash chain where each output becomes the next input, creating a verifiable ordering of events without requiring consensus. The leader produces ~400,000 hashes per slot (~400ms), and any validator can verify the sequence in parallel, enabling Solana's high throughput by removing the need for validators to agree on time.
Solana's custom BFT consensus algorithm built on top of Proof of History. Tower BFT uses PoH as a clock to reduce communication overhead in traditional PBFT from O(n²) to O(n). Validators vote on forks with exponentially increasing lockout periods—each consecutive vote doubles the lockout, making rollbacks progressively more expensive. A fork is finalized when it reaches supermajority (66.7%+ of stake).
A time window during which a designated leader validator can produce a block. Each slot lasts approximately 400 milliseconds. Slots are numbered sequentially from genesis and grouped into epochs of 432,000 slots (~2-3 days). Not every slot produces a block—a skipped slot means the leader was offline or too slow.
A set of entries produced by a leader during a single slot. A block contains transactions bundled into entries, each with a PoH hash proving ordering. Blocks are broken into shreds for network propagation via Turbine. Maximum block size is limited by compute units (48M CU cap per block) rather than byte size.