Solana validators face a turning point: the foundation aims for decentralization, and half of the validators are facing survival challenges
The Solana Foundation has launched a new policy aimed at enhancing validator independence by reducing their reliance on the foundation. However, it seems that the ultimate outcome may still be the optimization of large and medium-sized nodes.Author: Frank, PANews
With the SOL ETF being pushed onto the agenda by institutions, the Solana ecosystem seems to be accelerating the reform of decentralized governance. On April 23, the Solana Foundation launched a new policy regarding the Solana Foundation Delegation Program (SFDP). For each new validator added to the SFDP, three existing validators will be removed if certain validators have been eligible for Solana Foundation delegation on the mainnet for at least 18 months and have less than 1000 SOL staked outside of the Solana Foundation delegation. The aim of these policies is to enhance validator independence by reducing their reliance on the foundation. However, the ultimate outcome may still be the optimization of a large number of small and medium-sized nodes.
"One In, Three Out" Optimization of Validator Structure
The most striking part of the new policy is its "one in, three out" replacement rule. Specifically, for every new validator added to the Solana Foundation Delegation Program (SFDP), three existing validators will be removed.
The criteria for triggering removal are very clear, consisting of two key conditions. First, the validator must have been eligible for foundation delegation for at least 18 months; second, the validator must have less than 1000 SOL staked from external sources outside of the foundation delegation. These two conditions precisely target those validators who have long participated in the delegation program but have failed to demonstrate their independent viability by attracting community support.
It is worth noting that this policy took effect immediately upon announcement, indicating that the Solana Foundation is urgently advancing the decentralization process of the Solana network.
Impact May Involve Half of Validators
According to official data, as of April 24, there are 835 validators participating in the foundation's staking through the SFDP, accounting for 62% of the total number of validators on the Solana network. The total amount of SOL delegated through this program is approximately 40.5 million SOL, representing 10% of the total staked SOL on the Solana network.
According to a report from Helius at the end of August 2024, about 51% of validators have external staking amounts of less than 1000 SOL. If this ratio remains relatively unchanged, the current number of eligible validators is approximately 686. In the future, these validators may be forced to exit the validator ranks if they fail to attract more SOL staking, primarily because many validators rely on the Solana Foundation's SFDP program for their survival.
As for why the foundation's support is directly related to the survival of many validators, let's revisit the SFDP program. The Solana Foundation Delegation Program (SFDP) is one of the core mechanisms supporting the development of the validator network within the Solana ecosystem. The original intention of this program was to guide growth in the early stages of the network, lowering the entry barriers for validators, especially by providing basic delegation to help validators with less capital participate in consensus and earn rewards, thereby promoting the growth of the number of validators and the overall security of the network.
The SFDP provides support to validators in various ways:
Stake Matching: This is a key mechanism to incentivize validators to attract external staking. The foundation matches the external staking obtained by validators at a 1:1 ratio, with a maximum matching amount of 100,000 SOL. However, this matching is not unlimited. Once a validator's external staking exceeds 1 million SOL, the foundation will no longer provide any delegation (including matching and residual delegation).
Residual Delegation: After completing all eligible stake matching, the remaining SOL in the SFDP fund pool will be evenly distributed among all other eligible validators. According to Helius's analysis, this portion of delegation is currently about 30,000 SOL per validator. However, the foundation has indicated that as it increases its investment in community-operated staking pools, this portion of residual delegation is expected to gradually decrease.
Voting Cost Assistance: Running a Solana validator requires ongoing voting transaction fees, which can be a significant expense for newly joined or smaller staked validators (approximately 1.1 SOL per day). To alleviate this initial burden, the SFDP provides a time-limited voting cost subsidy program. For newly applying mainnet validators, the foundation covers 100% of the voting costs for the first 45 epochs (about 3 months) after they join the program, then reduces the coverage by 25% every 45 epochs until the subsidy stops after 180 epochs (about 1 year).
Is Solana Trapped in a Cycle of Increasing Centralization with Reforms?
According to Laine's 2024 estimates, a validator needs at least 3500 SOL in staking to balance voting costs, not including server costs exceeding $45,000 per year. Therefore, it can be said that if forced out of the SFDP program, a large number of small validators will have no choice but to shut down.
Fortunately, this plan has two external conditions: having been in the SFDP program for 18 months and the need for the SFDP to add a new validator. This provides a buffer period for those validators that do not meet the criteria.
From a design perspective, this plan aims to reduce validators' dependence on the Solana Foundation, enhance validator independence and community support, and lower external perceptions of the foundation's excessive influence on the ecosystem. However, from a foreseeable outcome, if there are not enough new validators of sufficient quantity or quality to fill the gaps left by removed validators, or if new validators themselves struggle to survive in a competitive environment, the total number of validators on the network may decrease, thereby harming decentralization.
On April 22, Paul Atkins was sworn in as the new chairman of the U.S. SEC. This pro-cryptocurrency chairman will have 72 crypto-related ETFs awaiting approval. Although many of these may struggle to pass, SOL, being one of the most vocal tokens, may be among those likely to be approved. From the timeline perspective, the final approval dates for SOL are primarily concentrated in October 2025. However, the significant issue currently facing Solana is similar to the reasons for Ethereum's repeated delays: insufficient decentralization may lead to a determination that it is a security. Thus, this may be one of the main reasons why the Solana network must actively promote its level of decentralization.
On the other hand, with increasing recognition from institutions in the market, the Solana network may see more large validators joining in the future. On April 23, the Canadian Securities Exchange-listed company SOL Strategies announced that it had secured up to $500 million in convertible note financing, which will be specifically used to purchase SOL and stake it on the validator nodes operated by the company. On the same day, another U.S. listed company, DeFi Development Corporation, announced that it would increase its total position in SOL to 317,000 SOL and plans to hold it long-term and participate in staking for returns.
Ultimately, whether it is the previously overturned SIMD-0228 proposal, the current "new policy" from the Solana Foundation, or the increasing number of institutions entering the space, the direct result seems to be that small and medium validators are being frustrated, and the barriers appear to be getting higher. This outcome does not seem to contribute to advancing the level of decentralization. For Solana, how to lower the barriers for validators may be the true attitude towards promoting decentralization.
