Solana’s Validators to Receive 100% of Priority Fees

Solana validators, the backbone of the blockchain network, will see their SOL rewards increase following a recent governance decision. They will now receive 100% of the priority fees generated by transactions.

This change, approved by over 77% of Solana’s governance participants, marks a significant shift in the network’s revenue distribution.

Details of the New Fee Model

Previously, Solana’s priority fee distribution model was split into two: half of the fees were burned (removed from circulation), while the other half was allocated to validators.

According to tao-stones, the creator of the proposal on Solana’s governance forum, this old method led to side deals between validators and transaction submitters, who sought to maximize their SOL gains.

Goals and Implications of the Proposal

The main objective of this reform, outlined in Solana Improvement Document number 96 (SIMD-0096), is to strengthen the network’s security and efficiency. By allocating all priority fees to validators, the proposal aims to incentivize them to focus more on maintaining and securing the network. Tao-stones emphasized that this new approach would ensure that validators remain dedicated to the optimal performance of the network.

This initiative has been implemented through the feature “Reward full priority fee to validators #34731,” marking the activation of this new reward system. With this update, Solana hopes not only to enhance the motivation of its validators but also to optimize the speed and reliability of transaction processing on its platform.