The Constellation Debate Part 2, with Brennan Watt (Anza)
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In this episode of Validated, host Austin engages Brennan Watt from Anza to dive deep into Constellation, the new proposal for Multiple Concurrent Proposers (MCP) on Solana. The discussion centers on the core motivations behind Constellation: enhancing predictability in transaction scheduling, reducing adversarial ordering, and improving censorship resistance through a multi-proposer architecture. Brennan explains how the system replaces the current single leader model with 16 proposers and 256 attestors, using erasure coding and stake-weighted selection to ensure resilience. Key technical aspects include fee-based ordering, probabilistic inclusion acknowledgments, and a trade-off between latency and censorship resistance. The conversation also addresses economic incentives, validator roles, bandwidth implications, and the broader ecosystem impact, including how Constellation fits into Solana’s roadmap alongside Alpenglow and other performance upgrades. Brennan emphasizes that Constellation is not a silver bullet but a foundational layer for future scalability and market competitiveness, with rollout expected in phases starting with 4.1 and full implementation in 1–2 years. The episode underscores a critical tension in blockchain design: balancing decentralization, performance, and censorship resistance. While Constellation introduces complexity, it aims to eliminate the power concentration of a single leader and create a more equitable, transparent system where economic incentives align with network health. The host and guest agree that the community’s feedback through the upcoming SIMD process will be crucial in shaping the final design. Ultimately, Constellation represents a bold step toward Solana’s vision of high-throughput, predictable, and fair transaction processing—especially vital for high-frequency trading and perps—while acknowledging that real-world adoption will depend on both technical robustness and social consensus.
Constellation replaces Solana’s single leader model with 16 proposers and 256 attestors to improve transaction predictability and reduce censorship risk.
Priority fees, not first-come-first-serve, will determine transaction ordering, internalizing market maker incentives into the protocol.
The system introduces a trade-off: slightly longer shred observation latency (up to 75ms) for significantly improved censorship resistance and fairness.
Economic incentives are realigned so validators earn from shared fees, not block content discretion, promoting performance and honesty.
Constellation is part of a phased rollout, with Alpenglow and 4.1 upgrades (July 2026) coming first, followed by MCP features over the next 1–2 years.
…and 1 more takeaway available in PodZeus
Introducing Constellation: A New Era for Solana's Market Structure
“We're not just trying to fix the leader problem—we're trying to build a system where predictability is silent, and users just feel it.”
The Problem with a Single Leader: Power, Discretion, and Censorship
“It's a dictatorship for a short amount of time. And that's when it becomes a problem.”
From First-Come-First-Serve to Priority Fees: The Economics of Ordering
Austin challenges the idea of simple rule-based ordering, asking why not just enforce rules like invalid signatures. Brennan explains why this isn’t sufficient—because you can’t observe what’s missing. The solution: prioritize fee-based ordering, internalizing market dynamics into the protocol and eliminating reliance on third-party landing services.
How Constellation Works: Proposers, Attestors, and Erasure Coding
Brennan walks through the mechanics of Constellation: 16 proposers each send 1/256th of a block to 256 attestors. Attestors observe and sign off on what they see, creating a distributed, Byzantine fault-tolerant verification layer. The leader then aggregates attestations and builds the block, ensuring no single entity can censor without detection.
Economic Incentives and Validator Alignment
The episode examines how proposers, attestors, and leaders are incentivized. Proposers earn inclusion fees by efficiently packing transactions, while attestors are rewarded for honest participation. Validators benefit from fee redistribution, reducing reliance on external services and increasing staker value.
“We're not just trying to fix the leader problem—we're trying to build a system where predictability is silent, and users just feel it.”
“We’re not comparing to a perfect world. We’re comparing to today’s reality—where 25% of validators are behaving badly.”
“It's a dictatorship for a short amount of time. And that's when it becomes a problem.”
Host
Guest
Solana
other
Constellation
other
Austin
person
Anza
organization
Alpenglow
other
Brennan Watt
person
SIMD
other
Tully
person
4.1
other
Hyperliquid
organization
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