A recent report reveals that Solana validators may be bending the blockchain’s rules to boost their earnings.
Key Highlights
- Some Solana validators use timing strategies to increase their rewards.
- By slowing down block production, they can earn up to 3% more in validator rewards.
- This practice can negatively impact regular SOL users and contribute to centralization.
On August 13, the Chorus One research team published findings showing that certain Solana validators intentionally delay block production to pack more transactions into their assigned slots. Since validators collect rewards from transaction fees, this tactic allows them to maximize fees per compute unit.
When combined with latency optimization, these timing games can increase validator rewards by as much as 3%. Although the percentage seems small, validator costs are largely fixed, meaning the extra rewards translate directly into higher profits.
The report states:
“Both timing and latency optimization significantly influence validator rewards on Solana. When used together, they deliver the highest uplift—up to 3% in total rewards—through enhanced MEV extraction and better fee capture.”
The Impact on Solana Users
The downside is that slowing block production disrupts Solana’s inflation mechanics. This reduces staking rewards for regular SOL holders while giving an edge to large validators with advanced hardware and high stakes—further concentrating control in fewer hands.
To counter this, Chorus One suggests replacing or upgrading Solana’s main validator client, Agave. An alternative client like Firedancer could maintain efficiency without introducing slot delays, effectively removing the timing advantage.
