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Solana validator logs 32 delinquencies, foundation still claims ‘100% uptime’

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Solana validator logs 32 delinquencies, foundation still claims '100% uptime'

The Solana Foundation is advertising “100% network uptime since March 2023” but delegators behind the Harmonic Major validator have had an entirely different experience.

Their node has gone delinquent 32 times in the past 30 days on a stake of 625,000 SOL, worth over $50 million, according to validator tracker Slashr.

Slashr puts that at 12 times the network average over that time period. 

Unlike certain proof-of-stake blockchains, Solana doesn’t slash validators for going offline, so no principal is at risk. Instead, delinquent delegators simply miss the vote credits, inflation rewards, and MEV share they would have earned. 

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The validator tracking service estimates the opportunity cost at roughly $413 per hour while the node is dark.

Harmonic, the company operating that validator, hasn’t publicly addressed a single incident.

How can Solana claim uptime yet still have delinquencies?

A Solana validator is flagged delinquent once its root slot drifts far enough behind the supermajority that it’s effectively stopped voting. 

Penalties on delinquent validators are entirely economic. Delegators forfeit the rewards they would have earned during the downtime but delinquencies don’t burn a stake nor force an exit from the validation system.

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That distinction is the one Solana’s uptime marketing doesn’t make.

Although cluster-level uptime of the entire Solana blockchain correctly reveals 100% timeliness of the network producing blocks, the actual experience of someone staking SOL with a validator or staking-as-a-service provider within a particular cluster can differ dramatically from that headline.

Validator-level uptime measures whether your specific node was voting. 

The two numbers can diverge dramatically, and in Harmonic’s case, they have.

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By April 13, Slashr had counted 283 delinquency events across Solana during the previous month, adding up to 1,322 hours of individual validator downtime. 

Harmonic topped that unfortunate leaderboard with 32 incidents and thousands of dollars in opportunity cost.

Anyone staking SOL with those node operators missed out on real payments.

‘100% uptime’ versus 32 delinquencies

Although its own homepage pitches Harmonic as a block-building system built to raise validator revenue and throughput across Solana akin to MEV, the Harmonic Major validator, MajorF3gAYEmUhqkoRXoL546Zim8nMa82tuUTz9LkmE, accepts delegated SOL like any other node.

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Anyone who staked to it is exposed to the opportunity cost of its delinquencies.

In addition to non-paid validating delinquencies, Harmonic’s RPC, gossip, and TPU ports have also been intermittently unreachable.

Read more: Solana validator decentralization under scrutiny

Harmonic has posted freely on X during the same window about feature launches, open-source code releases, and hiring.

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On April 9, for example, the company announced a major upgrade on the same day that Slashr flagged its ninth delinquency of the month. Harmonic hasn’t replied to any of Slashr’s tagged posts on X documenting its problematic downtimes.

Although Harmonic’s cluster kept producing blocks, its validator inside of that cluster missed 32 votes in a month while holding more than $50 million worth of SOL.

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Crypto World

Bitcoin Halts Gains as US-Iran War, Hormuz Closure Make a Comeback

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Bitcoin Halts Gains as US-Iran War, Hormuz Closure Make a Comeback

Bitcoin foreshadows fresh market mayhem as it appears that the US-Iran war has returned, including the closure of the Strait of Hormuz oil route.

Bitcoin (BTC) sought to protect $75,000 into Sunday’s weekly close as crypto surfed fresh uncertainty over the US-Iran war.

Key points:

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  • Bitcoin price action sinks from ten-week highs amid fears that the US-Iran war has returned in full force.

  • Iran closes the Strait of Hormuz, bringing back the risk of an oil-price surge.

  • BTC price action faces ongoing resistance at a 21-week trend line into the weekly close.

Bitcoin abandons highs as US-Iran war fears return

Data from TradingView showed BTC price pressure reentering after a trip to ten-week highs of $78,400 on Friday.

BTC/USD one-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

Mixed signals from US and Iranian sources characterized the weekend, with an assumed ceasefire and mutual agreements between the two sides now seemingly undone.

Among the latest developments was the repeat closure of the Strait of Hormuz, putting the focus on oil futures on the day. News of a ceasefire had sent WTI crude below $80 per barrel for the first time since March 10.

“We expect an eventful Sunday ahead,” trading resource The Kobeissi Letter summarized in ongoing analysis on X.

CFDs on WTI crude oil one-day chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

As BTC/USD circled local highs, and sentiment with it, market participants stayed cautious. Trading resource Material Indicators noted that the entire market mood could flip on relatively little input, such as a social media post.

“Sentiment is overwhelmingly bullish at the moment, but that could change with one Tweet in the coming days. Know your invalidations,” it told X followers.

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Data from CoinGlass showed long positions coming under fire during the BTC price retracement, with total crypto liquidations at $260 million over the past 24 hours.

Crypto seven-day liquidation history (screenshot). Source: CoinGlass

BTC price capped by resistance trend line

Continuing, trader Daan Crypto Trades eyed a potential gap in CME Group’s Bitcoin futures market opening as a result of the weekend comedown.

Related: Bitcoin can grow ‘probably a lot bigger’ than $30T+ gold market — Analysis

As Cointelegraph reported, such gaps often act as short-term price magnets when the new week begins.

“It’s going to be interesting to see the futures open today and how $OIL will react to the recent headlines regarding the strait,” he added.

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BTC/USDT 15-minute chart. Source: Daan Crypto Trades/X

Looking at the weekly close, trader and analyst Rekt Capital placed importance on Bitcoin’s 21-week exponential moving average (EMA) near $78,900.

“Bitcoin is rejecting from the 21-week EMA (green),” he observed alongside the weekly chart. 

“It is this rejection that could force a post-breakout retest of the top of the Double Bottom (~$73k) next week, provided Bitcoin Weekly Closes just like this.”

BTC/USD one-week chart. Source: Rekt Capital/X