Staking Yield Components
Stakers who don't use RevTec receive a default staking yield, which consists of newly minted SOL tokens (aka inflation), MEV tips collected by the Jito client, and priority fees (aka block rewards). These are combined and passed onto the staker, minus the validator operator's commission fees.
Starting in 2024, as shown below, increasing on-chain activity on Solana led to the generation and capture of a significant amount of MEV for SOL stakers, and priority fees for validators. This new source of yield more than compensated for the ever-decreasing issuance yield, but also had the effect of increasing the volatility of the default staking yield.
The combination of Jito tips (MEV) and priority fees (block rewards) are commonly referred to as "real economic value", or REV. They both serve the same purpose, which is to increase the likelihood that a transaction is included by a validator in a block. RevTec will combine these two yield sources and pass them onto holders of revSOL.
MEV
MEV (Maximal Extractable Value) on Solana is generated when inefficiencies or arbitrage opportunities arise in on-chain markets, often due to unsophisticated trading behavior or time-sensitive liquidity imbalances. Arbitrageurs (known as MEV searchers) detect these opportunities and submit bundles of prioritized transactions through Jito’s infrastructure. To ensure inclusion of their bundles in a block, searchers attach tips (paid in SOL) to their bundles. These tips are received by validators running the Jito-Solana client. Validators then take a commission on the MEV rewards before distributing the remaining MEV tips to their delegated stakers, increasing total yield.
As on-chain activity spikes (e.g. during mints, airdrops, liquidations, or major DEX trades), the number and value of MEV opportunities increase—leading to higher cumulative tips and thus greater REV for validators and stakers. As shown below, the amount of REV generated on Solana is highly correlated with the on-chain trading volume.
However, as we saw in the first chart, the flow of MEV to stakers has resulted in only a small addition to the overall staking APY mix, while adding volatility to the yield.
Priority Fees
Users on Solana pay transaction fees directly to validators to incentivize the inclusion of their transactions in blocks. During periods of high network congestion—when many transactions are competing for block space—users often raise their fee levels to increase the likelihood of inclusion. This is especially true for traders and MEV searchers, who are willing to pay high fees to ensure the timely execution of arbitrage or other profitable strategies.
Originally, Solana’s protocol design specified that 50% of transaction fees were burned (permanently removed from supply), while the remaining 50% went to validators. However, in May 2024, the passing of SIMD-96 changed this, allowing validators to retain 100% of transaction fees, significantly increasing their potential earnings during periods of elevated activity.
Some validators began experimenting with off-chain solutions to redistribute a portion of these block rewards (transaction fees and MEV) to their stakers. These systems allowed them to advertise higher APYs than competitors, but the reward-sharing mechanisms were not enforced or verifiable on-chain, creating trust and transparency issues.
In July 2025, the implementation of JIP-16 enabled validators to share block rewards with stakers via the Jito Tip Router - the same Jito infrastructure used to distribute MEV tips to stakers. This is the infrastructure that will be used by RevTec, at least until SIMD-123 is implemented on mainnet.
In March 2025, SIMD-123 was passed, introducing a protocol-level mechanism that allows validators to share block rewards directly with their stakers in a transparent and verifiable way. Once SIMD-123 is implemented on mainnet (perhaps Q3 or Q4 2025), validators who opt in can offer significantly higher staking yields—especially during times of high network activity. However, this will also introduce additional volatility into default staking APY, as block rewards (including MEV and transaction fees) are highly variable and correlate closely with overall on-chain activity.
Issuance Yield
Issuance refers to newly created SOL tokens distributed in accordance with Solana’s inflation schedule. Validators earn these tokens by participating in consensus—specifically by submitting vote transactions that attest to the correctness of blocks. Each successful vote earns vote credits, which determine how much issuance reward a validator receives. These rewards are then shared with the validator’s stakers, after deducting the validator’s commission.
Newly issued SOL tokens are distributed as rewards to stakers. However, since not all SOL in circulation is staked—currently around 66%—the inflation is distributed across a smaller subset of token holders. As a result, the staking yield from issuance is higher than the network-wide inflation rate, because the same amount of newly minted tokens is shared among fewer participants.
Therefore, in addition to the steady decline in issuance due to Solana’s decreasing inflation schedule, the percentage of SOL that is staked also plays a key role in determining the staking APY from issuance. However, this staking rate has historically remained relatively stable, hovering around 66%, which has helped keep issuance-based staking yields fairly predictable over time.
In March 2025, a proposal known as SIMD-228 argued that Solana’s issuance was too high and recommended adjusting the inflation schedule to reduce the rate at which new SOL is minted. The proposal did not pass governance and was ultimately not adopted. However, many in the community expect a similar proposal to be made and passed at some point in the future.
Last updated