DeepChain深链
solana  /  key players  /  Core development & infrastructure
Jito Labs

Jito: turning "queue-jumping fees" into a Solana business

A company building MEV (transaction-ordering revenue) infrastructure. Most stake runs its modified client, traders pay for ordering, and the tips go to validators and stakers; its JitoSOL is also one of the largest liquid staking tokens.

Jito Labs ↗JitoSOL ↗← Back to key players

First, what is MEV?

The order of transactions within a block is itself valuable. If someone spots a price gap between two exchanges, whoever’s transaction comes first captures it. This “money made from ordering” is called MEV.

Without rules, everyone spams the network with junk transactions to grab a spot, and the chain clogs up. Jito’s answer is to turn the scramble into a public auction: traders bundle transactions together, attach a tip, and the highest bids are included first.

How it works

  • The Jito client: Agave with an auction feature added. According to Jito, most stake runs this version.
  • The block engine: receives bundles, runs the auction and hands the result to the validator whose turn it is to produce the block.
  • Tip distribution: tips from the auction go to validators, who share them pro rata with stakers. JitoSOL holders therefore earn more than with ordinary staking.
Jito MEV tips (monthly)DefiLlama
$100M$200M20232024202520262025-01 peak $292.1M

Tips move with on-chain speculation, peaking in 2025-01 at about $292.1M; the last 30 days came to about $6.8M.

Timeline

  • November 2022: launched JitoSOL liquid staking.
  • December 2023: JTO airdropped, and the Jito DAO began governing.
  • March 2024: shut down its public mempool feature to reduce “sandwich attacks” on ordinary users (placing orders just before and after your trade for profit).
  • From 2024: launched restaking and other new products.
  • 2025: announced BAM, a new block-assembly design intended to make transaction-ordering rules more transparent and verifiable.
JitoSOL locked valueWeekly · DefiLlama
$1B$2B$3B2023202420252026

Locked value is in US dollars and moves with the SOL price.

Controversies and risks

  • Two sides of MEV: auctions make the scramble orderly, but MEV that harms ordinary users, such as sandwich attacks, has not gone away, it has just changed form. The Solana Foundation has removed validators involved in sandwich attacks from its delegation programme.
  • Dependence on Jito: if most stake runs the Jito client and relies on its block engine, Jito itself becomes a critical point in the network.

What to watch

  1. Monthly MEV tips: a gauge of on-chain speculation, and part of staking yield.
  2. JitoSOL’s locked value and share of liquid staking.
  3. Progress on BAM and other new designs, and data on sandwich attacks.

Sources

  • Jito’s website and docs, and the jito-solana repository (GitHub API).
  • Tips and locked value from DefiLlama. This page is an educational summary and is not investment advice.