Solayer to Launch Hardware-Accelerated SVM Network

Days after teasing its upcoming token airdrop, Solayer Labs announces plans to launch its own chain.

Published: Jan 7, 2025 at 13:56

Stepping out of its role as a popular Solana staking protocol, Solayer has announced its intention to launch its native SVM (Solana Virtual Machine) chain.

Supposedly an infinitely scalable hardware-accelerated SVM network, Solayer Chain promises unprecedented speed, 1M transactions per second, and 100Gbps bandwidth.

What is Solayer Chain, and how does it intend to deliver on its lofty ambitions?

Is Solayer Chain a Solana L2?

Like every network before it, Solayer Chain aims to solve blockchain scalability challenges by being faster than all its rivals. Unleashing a torrent of new buzzwords, Solayer attributes its unparalleled scalability to superior hardware.

Solayer Chain introduces some unfamiliar terms to the average crypto discussion, namely SDN Switches and Infiniband RDMA.

SDN Switches - Software-Defined Defined Network switches separate the control plane from the data plane, allowing for more flexible and programmable network management. SDN switches optimize data flow and allow for horizontal scaling, while also facilitating parallel processing.
Infiniband RDMA - Remote Direct Memory Access enables data transfer directly from the memory of one computer to another without passing through the operating system's networking stack.

The Solayer InfiniSVM harnesses SDN switches and RDMA to dynamically shard single SVM executions, essentially offloading the workload to infinite machines on programmable hardware switches.

Solayer asserts that this technology will enable the chain to process over 1M TPS, even going so far as to claim “for each second, we can process billions of people transferring USDC and millions of people aping the same memecoin on Raydium.”

Solayer’s announcement comes just days after the Solayer Foundation introduced its native governance token, $LAYER. SolanaFloor engaged Solayer for clarity on the role $LAYER will play on Solayer Chain and whether the protocol was positioning Solayer Chain as a Solana Layer-2. At press time, Solayer declined to comment.

Does Solana Even Need Layer 2s?

Between Solayer Chain, Sonic SVM, and Zeta Markets ZX, Solana Layer 2s are steadily gaining mindshare among network participants. However, industry thought leaders argue that their usefulness may be limited.

In an interview with SolanaFloor, Drift Protocol founder David Lu suggested that Solana Layer 2s might only be necessary for specific, closed environments. Meanwhile, Lu indicated that “for DeFi specifically… we don’t see that need”.

Step Finance founder George Harrap has echoed that sentiment, insinuating that the Solana Layer-1 is already sufficiently well-equipped for future growth and development.

2025: Solana’s Year of Speed

The wider Solana ecosystem has always been known for its unmatched performance and scalability, but the network’s builders are taking Solana’s speed to new levels in 2025.

2025’s greatest boon to Solana's scalability is undoubtedly Firedancer, an upcoming validator client that promises to enhance Solana’s performance and decentralization to new heights.

Additionally, former Solana Foundation Head of Strategy Austin Federa announced his departure from the organization to narrow his focus on DoubleZero, which provides a neutral base layer for decentralized systems.

Federa believes that improving the public internet’s underlying infrastructure is the next critical step towards the community’s new mantra: ‘Increase Bandwidth, Reduce Latency’.