Digital Energy · Research
Working analysis on Solana validator economics, governance, and delegation.
Everything here is computed from operator data rather than quoted from other briefs, and every figure is checked against an audited settlement record where one exists. Where a measurement disagreed with the model, the gap is published rather than smoothed. Corrections are welcome and are credited in the document.
Working brief v9 · 28 July 2026
Solana Validator Economics
What actually pays, what it costs, and where the stake comes from — after Alpenglow, VAT, and the disinflation debate. Full-stack breakeven of ~82K SOL today and ~74K post-Alpenglow, reconciled to within 3% of a 15-epoch audited record. Includes the commission asymmetry (surrendering base commission costs about thirty times more than surrendering MEV) and why SIMD-0411 and SIMD-0123 cut in opposite directions.
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