What is Jito Solana?

Jito is Solana's largest liquid staking protocol, letting you earn staking rewards plus MEV rewards while keeping your staked SOL liquid for further yield.

What is Jito?

Jito is the leading liquid staking protocol on Solana, with more than 10 million SOL staked through the protocol (or roughly $790 million) in total value locked (TVL). Instead of locking your SOL while it earns staking rewards, Jito issues a liquid staking token called JitoSOL that you can continue using across the Solana DeFi ecosystem.

What sets Jito apart from other liquid staking protocols is its focus on maximum extractable value (MEV). Rather than allowing MEV profits to be captured solely by validators or sophisticated traders, Jito redistributes much of that value back to stakers, increasing the overall yield they earn.

Jito Solana client architecture

Under the hood, Jito modifies the standard Solana validator software with additional components designed to handle MEV auctions more efficiently.

Instead of every transaction arriving directly through Solana's normal networking layer, searchers submit transaction bundles to the Block Engine. The Block Engine evaluates competing bundles, runs auctions to determine which provide the greatest value, and forwards the winning bundle to participating validators.

Validators still produce blocks in exactly the same way as any other Solana validator. The difference is that they receive optimized bundles containing transactions that have already competed in an open auction.

This approach has several advantages. It reduces spam transactions, creates a more transparent market for MEV opportunities, and allows validators to earn additional income without relying on private agreements with trading firms.

For everyday users, most of this happens behind the scenes. The main benefit is that staking through Jito gives you exposure to these additional MEV rewards while your JitoSOL remains usable throughout the Solana ecosystem.

What is Jito Block Engine?

The Jito Block Engine is the infrastructure that allows validators to process transactions more efficiently while capturing MEV in a transparent way.

To understand why it exists, it helps to know how transactions normally work. Whenever you submit a transaction on Solana, it enters a queue before being included in a block. During busy periods, multiple traders may compete to have their transactions processed first, particularly when arbitrage opportunities exist.

Jito's Block Engine creates an auction where professional traders, known as searchers, compete by submitting bundles of transactions along with bids. The validator selects the bundle offering the highest value while ensuring the included transactions execute exactly as intended.

Rather than allowing this value to disappear into private arrangements, the Block Engine makes the process competitive and transparent. The resulting MEV revenue is then shared with participating validators and, ultimately, JitoSOL stakers.

Today, much of Solana's validator network uses Jito's Block Engine, making it a core piece of the network's infrastructure rather than simply another DeFi application.

What are Jito Bundles on Solana?

Bundles are groups of transactions that execute together in a specific order.

Normally, individual transactions compete independently for block space. Bundles allow multiple transactions to be treated as a single package that either executes completely or doesn't execute at all.

This is particularly useful for complex trades involving arbitrage, liquidations, or multi-step DeFi strategies where every transaction depends on the previous one succeeding.

Bundles reduce execution risk while allowing sophisticated traders to compete fairly through Jito's auction system instead of flooding the network with competing transactions.

What are Jito Tips?

Tips are payments attached to bundles.

Searchers include tips when submitting bundles through the Block Engine to increase their chances of winning the auction. Higher tips generally make a bundle more attractive to validators.

These tips become part of the MEV revenue distributed throughout the Jito ecosystem, ultimately contributing to the additional rewards earned by JitoSOL stakers.

What are Jito MEV rewards?

MEV rewards are the additional income generated from valuable transaction ordering opportunities on the blockchain.

Certain transactions become more valuable depending on where they appear within a block. For example, arbitrage traders may profit by buying a token on one exchange and selling it on another before prices equalize. To secure these opportunities, they compete to have their transactions included first.

Jito turns this competition into an auction.

Searchers package transactions into bundles and bid for priority. Validators running Jito software receive these bids, include the highest-paying bundles, and collect the proceeds. Instead of keeping all of that revenue themselves, participating validators share a significant portion with JitoSOL holders.

As a result, Jito staking combines traditional Solana staking rewards with additional MEV income, often producing higher overall yields than conventional staking alone.

How does Jito work?

Jito begins with liquid staking.

You deposit SOL into the protocol and receive JitoSOL, a liquid staking token representing your staked position. Your original SOL is delegated to validators that participate in the Jito network, where it earns both normal staking rewards and additional MEV rewards.

Unlike traditional staking, your assets aren't locked away. JitoSOL can be traded, used as collateral, supplied to lending protocols, deposited into liquidity pools, or used in other Solana DeFi platforms while continuing to accrue staking rewards.

This composability is one of Jito's biggest advantages. Rather than choosing between staking and DeFi, you can participate in both simultaneously.

How do I use Jito?

Getting started with Jito only takes a few steps. Connect a compatible Solana wallet, fund it with SOL, and you'll be able to access Jito's staking products directly through the website.

Beyond liquid staking, Jito has expanded into additional products built around restaking and institutional infrastructure.

Jito liquid staking

Liquid staking is Jito's flagship product.

You deposit SOL into the protocol and immediately receive JitoSOL. Your staking rewards accumulate automatically as the value of JitoSOL increases over time, while you remain free to use it across supported DeFi applications.

Jito restaking

Jito Restaking extends the idea of staking beyond securing the Solana network.

Instead of simply staking SOL, you can restake assets to help secure additional applications or services built on Solana. In return, these protocols may pay additional rewards on top of your existing staking yield.

Restaking is newer than traditional staking and generally carries higher risks, but it also creates opportunities for additional returns.

Jito vaults

Vaults provide automated strategies for managing assets within the Jito ecosystem.

Depending on the vault, your deposited assets may be allocated across staking, lending, liquidity provision, or MEV-related strategies designed to maximize returns while reducing the amount of manual management required.

How much can you earn staking with Jito?

Jito staking currently offers an annual percentage yield (APY) of approximately 5.31%.

This figure isn't fixed. Staking yields fluctuate depending on Solana's validator rewards, network activity, inflation schedule, and the amount of MEV generated through Jito's Block Engine.

Periods of higher on-chain activity often produce larger MEV rewards, which can increase overall returns for JitoSOL holders.

Is Jito safe?

Jito is regarded as one of the most trusted infrastructure providers on Solana. The protocol has undergone multiple independent security audits and supports a large portion of the network's validator ecosystem. Jito has not experienced a major exploit that resulted in losses for liquid staking users.

However, no DeFi protocol is entirely risk-free. Smart contract vulnerabilities, validator performance issues, slashing events, volatile market conditions, and changes to the value of JitoSOL relative to SOL all remain potential risks. Users should also be cautious of phishing websites and fake wallet connections impersonating Jito.

What are the benefits of using Jito?

Some of the biggest advantages include:

• Earn both standard staking rewards and additional MEV rewards.

• Keep your assets liquid through JitoSOL instead of locking your SOL.

• Use JitoSOL across lending protocols, DEXs, and liquidity pools.

• Access one of the largest and most established staking protocols on Solana.

• Benefit from a large validator network designed to improve decentralization.

• Participate in new products like restaking and vault strategies.

• Transparent MEV auctions help distribute value back to stakers instead of concentrating it among professional traders.

What are the risks of using Jito?

Like every DeFi protocol, Jito also comes with risks:

• Smart contract vulnerabilities.

• Temporary price differences between JitoSOL and SOL.

• Variable staking and MEV rewards.

• Risks associated with DeFi protocols that accept JitoSOL.

• Restaking introduces additional protocol risks.

• Potential validator underperformance or slashing.

• Wallet security and phishing attacks remain the user's responsibility.

Which wallets work with Jito?

Jito supports most major Solana wallets, including:

• Phantom

• Solflare

• Backpack

• Leap Wallet

• Trust Wallet

• Glow Wallet

What is Jito (JTO) token?

JTO is the governance token for the Jito ecosystem.

The token launched in December 2023 through one of Solana's largest community airdrops. JTO allows holders to vote on proposals affecting protocol upgrades, treasury management, validator policies, ecosystem grants, and other governance decisions.

Unlike JitoSOL, which represents staked SOL, JTO does not generate staking rewards by itself. Its primary purpose is governance.

JTO tokenomics

• Token: JTO

• Blockchain: Solana

• Current price: $0.60 at the time of writing

• Maximum supply: 1 billion JTO

• Circulating supply: 500 million

• Primary utility: Governance

• All-time high (ATH): $5.61

• All-time low (ATL): $0.21

Did Jito have an airdrop?

Yes. Jito launched JTO through a major community airdrop in December 2023, rewarding early JitoSOL users, validators, MEV participants, and contributors to the Solana ecosystem.

The claim period has now ended, and any unclaimed JTO tokens have been transferred to the Jito DAO treasury, where they may be allocated through future governance proposals.

How to buy JTO on Solana

If you already own SOL or another Solana token, you can swap directly into JTO using Jupiter or another Solana decentralized exchange.

Alternatively, JTO is listed on several centralized exchanges, allowing you to purchase it with fiat currency and then withdraw it to a compatible Solana wallet.

Jito vs Marinade vs Sanctum

All three protocols provide liquid staking on Solana, but they take different approaches.

Jito is generally the strongest option if your priority is maximizing staking returns through MEV rewards. Marinade focuses on broad validator delegation and simplicity, while Sanctum aims to make different liquid staking tokens interoperable across the wider Solana ecosystem.

Don’t forget the tax bill…

Don’t forget, staking rewards are taxable. And liquid staking can convolute the tax implications depending on the protocol you’re using and how you receive your earnings. Learn more in our DeFi tax guide, or sign up for Koinly free today to calculate your Solana staking reward taxes.