What Does DoubleZero Edge Mean for Solana Validators?

Crypto’s favorite high-performance ‘internet-for-blockchains’ network has just announced its upcoming data delivery platform, DoubleZero Edge.

Promising to improve onchain market structure, trade execution, and to boost validator rewards, DoubleZero Edge has won the support of Solana’s biggest infrastructure operators, including Jito, Harmonic, Triton, and Helius.

What is DoubleZero Edge, and how will it help validators generate more revenue and enable hyper-efficient DeFi markets?

Improving Micro Market Structure, One Shred at a Time

Building on the foundations set by its high-performance network, DoubleZero Edge is a permissionless market data delivery platform. 

Starting with Solana shreds, or fractionalized pieces of blocks, Edge allows users to purchase valuable blockchain data before it gets finalized, giving participants a competitive “edge” in onchain micromarkets.

At scale, widespread accessibility to faster data flow leads to more-informed decision making from market participants and gives onchain traders better execution. While only high-frequency traders and complex algorithms can take active advantage of shred data, improved micromarket structure also results in reduced slippage and tighter spreads for retail users.

"Traders care deeply about the speed at which market-moving information hits their system. That has always been true across all asset classes and all products traded across centralized exchanges. DoubleZero Edge gives traders transacting onchain a faster, more consistent view of transaction data on Solana. The result is better execution than anything that exists in crypto today. The playing field just changed." - Andrew McConnell, CTO at Malbec Labs and Co-Founder of DoubleZero

DoubleZero Edge is made possible through multicast, a high-performance data propagation technology that has powered TradFi markets for a decade. Multicast enables market data to be broadcast to service subscribers almost simultaneously in one transmission, reducing overall latency and the bandwidth requirements of the sender.

Network participants have since requested DoubleZero share empirical data and evidence that its protocol does in fact offer improved shred delivery.

But its not just traders reaping the benefits of an emerging Solana Shred Economy. DoubleZero contends that Edge is a win-win, positive-sum game that supports users on both sides of the marketplace.

Boosting Validator Revenue with DoubleZero Edge

DoubleZero Edge gives Solana Validators another potential monetization option. By publishing shreds to DoubleZero Edge, validators will be able to earn a proportionate share of subscriber fees and increase their revenue.

Beyond boosting validator profitability, DoubleZero Edge could also help to decentralize stake across the Solana network. Presently, leading market makers and onchain trading firms rely heavily on large validators by stake weight. 

The top 200 operators by stake receive shred data earlier than smaller validators, meaning the trading firms typically submit transactions through these players. This phenomenon causes a top-heavy concentration of network stake, harming Solana’s decentralization long-term.

DoubleZero Edge breaks up this model, using a multicast feed to distribute shreds sourced from the block leader. 

Revenue generated through Edge’s Shred Economy is then distributed amongst contributors, validators, and client operators like Jito, Harmonic, Agave, and Firedancer. Since beta testing began in late February, over 100 validators are now publishing shreds to DoubleZero Edge.

"Performance brought traders to Solana. Execution quality is what keeps them. DoubleZero Edge will help give market makers the tools they need to deepen liquidity across the ecosystem. Jito is proud to support the infrastructure that makes Solana the best place in the world to trade." – Lucas Bruder, Jito Labs co-founder and CEO

Additionally, DoubleZero has dropped the 5% block reward fee that was previously charged to connected validators. DoubleZero claims that the removal of fees signals the network’s shift out of its initial bootstrapping phase into a period focused on scaling sustainable revenue streams.

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