Solana Faces Backlash Over SIMD-0525 Proposal Threatening Smaller Validators

Solana is facing backlash over the SIMD-0525 proposal amid validator concerns, as the plan to cut Solana’s slot time in half promises faster transactions but threatens to squeeze out smaller validators.

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The proposal, authored by Anza developer Brennan Watt, would slash Solana’s slot time from 400 milliseconds to 200 milliseconds, with the reduction staged across four increments from 350 ms to 200 ms.

Cointelegraph

The upgrade was created on May 1, updated on May 14, and merged around May 21, and it keeps the leader span at 4 slots while ticks per slot remain at 64.

Firepower for the change is paired with a validator-economics debate: the proposal says max block compute units would decrease from 60 million to 30 million at the 200 ms target, while validator discussions flag the possibility that smaller operators could be forced to shut down.

In the same governance arc, the proposal’s staged rollout includes a one-epoch delay before each activation step, giving the network time to surface operational issues before ratcheting down further.

Japan is restructuring its approach to digital asset regulation, as the Financial Services Agency (FSA) confirmed that cryptocurrency regulations will move from the Payment Services Act to the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act.

The shift is framed by crypto analyst Xaif (@Xaif_Crypto), who wrote: “the country that holds more XRP than anywhere else on earth just gave it a legal home.”

Crypto Briefing

The Bitget item says the FSA document outlines motivations including fraud complaints, investment seminars and online communities producing cases of suspected deceptive conduct, and whitepapers containing inaccurate or misleading information.

It also states the revised regulatory structure moves crypto from the Payment Services Act to the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act, positioning crypto assets as financial products distinct from securities.

In its description of what the law now requires, the FSA reform is said to cover four areas: tightening rules for unregistered operators, establishing disclosure requirements, strengthening regulation of crypto asset exchange businesses, and creating new insider trading rules as part of broader anti-market manipulation measures.

Ledger added native support for the $ADI token tied to ADI Foundation’s ADI Chain network, a UAE-linked layer-2 focused on stablecoins and tokenized real-world assets.

“Solana faces backlash over SIMD-0525 proposal amid validator concerns A plan to cut Solana's slot time in half promises faster transactions but threatens to squeeze out smaller validators, reigniting the network's perennial decentralization debate”

Crypto Briefing

The integration allows users to store and manage $ADI through Ledger Wallet and the company’s hardware signing devices, while ADI Foundation describes ADI Chain as infrastructure for regulated stablecoins and tokenized assets with $ADI as the network’s native gas token.

The announcement follows a recent 110 million dirham ($30 million) DDSC transfer disclosed by International Holding Company, which the company described as one of the largest publicly disclosed stablecoin transactions executed in the United Arab Emirates.

In parallel stablecoin context, a March report from Dune Analytics commissioned by Visa estimates the broader non-dollar stablecoin market at roughly $1.2 billion in supply versus a total stablecoin market exceeding $300 billion.

The same reporting says euro-backed stablecoins account for more than 80% of the non-US dollar stablecoin sector, while a Blockchain for Europe report in April claims MiCA’s strict reserve and interest rules have made euro stablecoins safer but less commercially competitive than US dollar-backed alternatives.