diff --git a/solana/Anchor.toml b/solana/Anchor.toml
index 4547cc2..908e6ec 100644
--- a/solana/Anchor.toml
+++ b/solana/Anchor.toml
@@ -30,6 +30,10 @@ startup_wait = 16000
 [test.validator]
 url = "https://api.devnet.solana.com"
 
+### At 160 ticks/s, 64 ticks per slot implies that leader rotation and voting will happen
+### every 400 ms. A fast voting cadence ensures faster finality and convergence
+ticks_per_slot = 8
+
 ### Forked Wormhole Circle Integration Program
 [[test.validator.clone]]
 address = "wCCTPvsyeL9qYqbHTv3DUAyzEfYcyHoYw5c4mgcbBeW"
diff --git a/solana/ts/tests/helpers/utils.ts b/solana/ts/tests/helpers/utils.ts
index 4686e76..55b3579 100644
--- a/solana/ts/tests/helpers/utils.ts
+++ b/solana/ts/tests/helpers/utils.ts
@@ -181,8 +181,8 @@ export async function loadProgramBpf(
     );
 
     // Sometimes the validator fails to fetch a blockhash after this buffer gets loaded, so we wait
-    // a bit to ensure that doesn't happen.
-    await new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, 5000));
+    // a bit to ensure that doesn't happen. Uncomment this in if this is an issue.
+    //await new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, 5000));
 
     // Return the pubkey for the buffer (our new program implementation).
     return buffer;