What is Jito-Solana
Jito-Solana is essentially Solana's validator software on steroids. It's built upon the Agave client – the same software most validators are already running anyway – but it adds MEV functionality, which fundamentally changes the way transactions are processed.
To put it simply, most Solana validators just process transactions sequentially, on a "first come, first served" basis. Jito-Solana changes that dynamic by allowing validators to take market opportunities as well. Searchers can bid for the right to bundle and prioritize their transactions. Rather than creating disorder, it employs a sophisticated off-chain auction process that keeps the network functioning smoothly while enabling validators to earn more.
The key component of this is the pseudo-mempool – essentially, Solana technically doesn't have a mempool, but Jito-Solana creates a similar system. Transactions are bundled before they get relayed to validators, streamlining the whole process. Importantly, the additional MEV rewards are not entirely hoarded by validators. Instead, those rewards get shared with JitoSOL stakers, the liquid staking token of Jito. At the time of writing, 40% of all SOL is staked via JitoSOL.
It's a virtuous cycle – you stake SOL, receive JitoSOL in return, and earn both staking rewards and MEV. Both validators and stakers win.
Dominance and Network Adoption
The scale of adoption is staggering. As of June 2025, over 90% of Solana's stake is running on Jito-Solana, which represents between 90-96% of all SOL staked.
Back in April 2023, Jito accounted for a modest 10% of all priority fees on Solana. As of April 2025, that number is over 60%. Six times the market share in just two years. And this number will likely continue to grow – in January 2025, nearly two-thirds of all fees and tips were flowing through Jito.
For validators, the reasoning is simple. Running Jito-Solana instead of vanilla Agave improves staking rewards for them and their delegators by an average of 15-30%. These numbers will go higher during particularly busy market periods. There is no financial incentive for validators to run vanilla Solana software when others are already running Jito.
Economic Impact and Validator Benefits
The 15-30% improvement in staking returns is real, tangible SOL in the pockets of validators and their stakers, too. When markets get active, this number can get even higher.
Over a six month period leading up to November 2024, 47% of all Solana fees came through Jito. That's almost half! The Jito DAO, too, isn't resting on its laurels. In September 2025, it approved a proposal to double its revenue, which now means it has a marketcap-to-revenue ratio of 30.5, which is excellent for a crypto infrastructure company.
MEV is not merely an idea for the sake of the theory; it's actual money that gets paid to validators and stakers. Every validator is getting more by running Jito-Solana, and the network now has over 90% adoption and is the standard of Solana's operations.
None of this compromises what makes Solana so compelling: it remains fast, cheap, and efficient. Jito just adds another layer that extracts value that was already there in plain sight. Validators get a better take, stakers earn higher returns and Solana keeps running thousands of transactions per second.
