--- title: "Jito (JTO & JitoSOL)" url: "https://caper.network/wiki/daos/staking/jito" updated: 2026-09-07 license: CC-BY-4.0 license_url: "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" --- # Jito (JTO & JitoSOL) | Project | Jito (Jito Foundation / Jito Labs) | | --- | --- | | Tokens | JTO (governance) · JitoSOL (liquid staking) | | Category | Liquid staking + MEV infrastructure DAO | | Chain | Solana | | Governance | Token-weighted (1 JTO = 1 vote) via Solana [SPL Governance (Realms)](https://docs.realms.today/); DAO multisig execution | | JTO supply | 1,000,000,000 fixed; airdropped 7 Dec 2023 | | Founded | 2022 | | Website | [jito.network](https://www.jito.network/) | **Jito** is the DAO that governs the dominant slice of Solana's [value-capture stack](/wiki/dao-governance/concepts/treasury/dao-treasury-management): the network's largest liquid-staking token (**JitoSOL**), the MEV-enabled validator client that most of Solana's stake runs, and the block-building marketplace that sequences much of its transaction flow. Where [Lido](/wiki/daos/staking/lido-dao) and [Rocket Pool](/wiki/daos/staking/rocket-pool) govern liquid staking and [EigenLayer](/wiki/daos/staking/eigenlayer) governs restaking, Jito is the rare DAO whose treasury sits astride an entire chain's _MEV supply chain_ – client, block engine, tips, and restaking – making it a distinctive study in governing revenue-generating infrastructure rather than a single protocol. ## JitoSOL: liquid staking with MEV [JitoSOL](https://www.jito.network/docs/jitosol/overview/) is a non-custodial [liquid-staking](/wiki/daos/staking/lido-dao) token: deposit SOL, receive JitoSOL, and keep a liquid, DeFi-composable claim that accrues both ordinary staking yield _and_ a share of the MEV rewards Jito's validators earn. It is Solana's largest liquid-staking token, with on the order of **14.5 million SOL (~$2.9B)** staked through the pool as of 2025-2026 ([Solana Compass](https://solanacompass.com/projects/jito)). Delegation is not hand-managed. Jito runs [StakeNet](https://www.jito.network/docs/stakenet/overview/) – a blend of on-chain programs and off-chain "keepers", anchored by the **Steward Program** – to score validators and rebalance JitoSOL's stake across them automatically, on-chain and auditably. Crucially, _every_ StakeNet parameter (delegation criteria, safety thresholds, caps) is set by [Jito DAO governance](https://www.jito.network/docs/governance/the-jito-governance-token-jto/), so the community, not a private operator, controls where the largest Solana stake pool points. The scoring-formula approach contrasts with fellow Solana LST DAO [Marinade](/wiki/daos/staking/marinade), which instead auctions its stake to the validators that bid the highest yield. ## The Jito-Solana client, Block Engine & tips The other half of Jito is MEV infrastructure. The [Jito-Solana validator client](https://www.jito.wtf/validators/) is an MEV-enabled fork of Solana's Agave client; by 2025 it was run by roughly **90%+ of Solana's staked SOL** (~95% of validators), making it the network's de-facto standard ([GetBlock](https://getblock.io/blog/what-is-jito-solana-mev-client/)). Around it sits an off-chain **Block Engine**: searchers submit _bundles_ – atomic, explicitly-ordered groups of transactions – and bid _tips_ for inclusion, and the winning bundles are forwarded to the leader. Tips flow back to stakers and validators through the on-chain [Tip Distribution Program](https://jito-foundation.gitbook.io/mev/mev-payment-and-distribution/tip-distribution-program). The scale is large: heading into 2025, Jito tips had paid out roughly **$674 million** to stakers and validators and accounted for close to half of Solana's real economic value ([Crypto Briefing](https://cryptobriefing.com/jito-351m-market-cap-78m-mev-fees-solana/)). In July 2025 Jito announced the [Block Assembly Marketplace (BAM)](https://www.helius.dev/blog/block-assembly-marketplace-bam), a verifiable, privacy-preserving, programmable block-building architecture that runs block construction inside Trusted Execution Environments – borrowing the design of Ethereum's [Flashbots BuilderNet](https://blockworks.com/news/jito-upgrade-block-assembly-marketplace). ## What the Jito DAO governs JTO is a fixed-supply governance token (1 billion, [airdropped 7 December 2023](https://www.jito.network/docs/governance/the-jito-governance-token-jto/)). Holders draft [Jito Improvement Proposals (JIPs)](https://forum.jito.network/) on the governance forum and vote token-weighted through Solana's SPL Governance (Realms), with a DAO multisig enacting passed proposals. Per the governance docs, JTO controls three concrete levers: - **StakeNet parameters** – the delegation strategy behind JitoSOL's multi-billion-dollar stake distribution. - **TipRouter NCN parameters** – the node-consensus network that computes and distributes MEV tips. - **The DAO treasury** – the JTO held by the DAO plus the fees generated by JitoSOL and restaking. Because a JitoSOL depositor need not hold JTO – and a JTO holder need not stake – Jito is a clean example of the [token-weighted-voting](/wiki/dao-governance/concepts/voting/token-weighted-voting) model applied to critical shared infrastructure: influence over Solana's staking and MEV plumbing is priced, transferable, and accrues to whoever accumulates the most JTO. ## TipRouter and Jito (Re)staking [TipRouter](https://www.jito.network/blog/what-is-jito-tiprouter/) (live since February 2025) is itself built on Jito's newer product line: [Jito (Re)staking](https://www.jito.network/docs/restaking/jito-restaking-overview/). Restaking lets staked SPL assets be re-pledged to secure additional **Node Consensus Networks (NCNs)**, with vault positions represented by transferable _Vault Receipt Tokens (VRTs)_; the programs are audited by Certora, Offside and OtterSec and secure hundreds of millions in assets. TipRouter is the first flagship NCN – it decentralises the computation and distribution of Jito tips, replacing a trusted off-chain process. It charges a **6% fee on tips**, split between Jito Labs and the DAO; in Q2 2025 that fee alone earned the DAO [22,391 SOL (~$4M)](https://kairoscrypto.substack.com/p/tiprouter-jitos-2025-growth-engine). ## Routing fees to the DAO Through 2025 Jito's governance steadily redirected protocol revenue to the treasury and to token holders. [JIP-24](https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2025/08/05/solana-s-jito-proposes-routing-100-of-block-engine-fees-to-dao-treasury) proposed routing **100% of Block Engine fees** (and future BAM fees) to the Jito DAO treasury. Separately, [JIP-38](https://solanacompass.com/news/jtx-goes-live-on-solana-as-jitos-self-custody-trading-platform-opens-to-first-1000-users) (passed 13 July 2025) directs 80% of fees from **JTX** – Jito's self-custody spot-trading platform – to the DAO, and commits 100% of the DAO's share to open-market **JTO buybacks** through Q4 2027, with the repurchased JTO burned. The result is a DAO increasingly funded by, and returning value from, the infrastructure it governs. ## How Caper approaches this Jito shows token-weighted governance at its most consequential: control over Solana's largest stake pool and its MEV pipeline accrues to whoever holds the most JTO, a freely tradeable asset. That is a deliberate, working design for a live revenue business – something a small [caper](/wiki/foundations/what-is-a-caper) does not operate and does not try to imitate. Caper differs in _who_ the decisive vote belongs to. A caper's governance weight is `(t·v)/(V·T)` – governance tokens held (`t`) times an earned, non-transferable [soulbound proof-of-vote token](/wiki/dao-governance/concepts/membership/soulbound-tokens) (`v`), over total supply of each (verified in `contracts/common/src/lib.rs`, `compute_vote_weight`). The soulbound token is minted one per ballot cast and 0.01 per XRD of gross trade value on each leg of a trade and can never be moved between wallets once earned (`DIVISIBILITY_MAXIMUM`, depositor locked to the component; `contracts/core/src/caper_dao.rs`). Holdings still count – `t` is a multiplier – but a bag cannot absorb the record other members already hold the way accumulating JTO absorbs their votes: `v` is minted to the account that trades or votes, at 0.01 per XRD of gross value, and can never be sold on. The same weight sizes a member's [exit redemption](/wiki/dao-governance/concepts/membership/rage-quit-and-exit-rights), and the vote token is burned on the way out (`exit()`, same file). And where Jito's treasury moves when a multisig enacts an off-chain-drafted JIP, a caper's [treasury](/wiki/markets/bonding-curve) moves only through typed on-chain PAYOUT / INVEST / DIVEST / METADATA proposals that no signer enacts: the winning option is triggered permissionlessly, sits out the market window in which the caper's own market may veto it on price, and is then executed by anyone at all (`trigger_proposal`, `resolve_proposal` and the execute entry points in `contracts/logic/src/lib.rs`). The vote is not itself the transfer – it is the only thing that can authorise one. ## References - [Jito Foundation – Documentation Hub](https://www.jito.network/docs/hub/overview/) - [Jito – The JTO Governance Token](https://www.jito.network/docs/governance/the-jito-governance-token-jto/) - [Jito – StakeNet & the Steward Program](https://www.jito.network/docs/stakenet/overview/) - [Jito – (Re)staking overview](https://www.jito.network/docs/restaking/jito-restaking-overview/) - [Jito MEV – Tip Distribution Program](https://jito-foundation.gitbook.io/mev/mev-payment-and-distribution/tip-distribution-program) - [JIP-24 – Jito DAO receives Block Engine & BAM fees](https://forum.jito.network/t/jip-24-jito-dao-receives-all-jito-block-engine-fees-and-future-bam-fees/860) - [CoinDesk – Jito proposes routing 100% of Block Engine fees to the DAO (5 Aug 2025)](https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2025/08/05/solana-s-jito-proposes-routing-100-of-block-engine-fees-to-dao-treasury) - [Helius – Block Assembly Marketplace (BAM)](https://www.helius.dev/blog/block-assembly-marketplace-bam) - [Solana Compass – Jito metrics](https://solanacompass.com/projects/jito)