The team responsible for Ore, a cryptocurrency built on the proof-of-work powered Solana network, has emerged as the “Grand Prize” winner at the Solana Renaissance Hackathon, which was backed by the Solana Foundation. Despite Ore causing significant disruption to the blockchain in April, the team was awarded $50,000 in USD Coin (USDC) for their efforts in identifying high-impact projects for Solana’s future.
However, the sudden increase in Ore mining transactions, combined with the recent surge in memecoin popularity, were major factors contributing to the transaction failure issue experienced by Solana in mid-April. During this time, over 70% of non-vote transaction requests were initially rejected. The Solana Foundation attributed these network congestion problems to the high demand for Solana block space and a delay in implementing necessary patches for its networking stack.
Solana developers had intended to implement a solution to improve the congestion issue on April 15. However, data from a Dune Analytics dashboard by scarn_eth reveals that the failure rate for non-vote transactions still stands at around 62%. In response to these challenges, the Ore team temporarily suspended their mining operations just 13 days after the project’s launch on April 16. They aimed to optimize their system with a second version before resuming mining, as indicated on Ore’s website.
While the Ore team is pleased to receive the award, its pseudonymous creator, Hardhat Chad, acknowledges that there is still more work to be done before they can offer Solana users a fast, affordable, private, and inflation-proof digital currency that anyone can mine.
Since the announcement of Ore’s victory, the value of the Ore (ORE) token has risen by 115% to $270.8, according to CoinMarketCap.
Ore’s codebase is derived from Bitcoin’s, but it was written as a Solana smart contract. This unique approach allows multiple miners to share in the network’s block rewards, rather than a single miner receiving the entire payout. Hardhat Chad hopes that Ore will bring back the enjoyment of mining, as it can be performed using ordinary laptops, thus reducing the entry barrier.
In conclusion, while Ore’s disruptive impact on the Solana blockchain was a setback, the team’s victory at the Solana Renaissance Hackathon demonstrates their commitment to advancing the platform. With ongoing improvements and optimizations, they aim to create a mining experience that is accessible, enjoyable, and beneficial to all Solana users.