Solana Foundation Tightens SFDP Rules, Ends Validator Support After 12 Months or 300,000 SOL

• The Solana Foundation said it has overhauled the operating rules for its Solana Foundation Delegation Program (SFDP), limiting support to a maximum of 12 months and ending it automatically once delegated staking reaches 300,000 SOL.
• The foundation said it plans to delegate SOL more flexibly going forward, with a focus on network stability and ecosystem contributions, while expanding separate delegations outside SFDP to validators that have made major contributions to the network.
• The overhaul has raised concerns about a decline in the number of validators, but the foundation said reducing the validator count is not the goal, though the number could fall as a side effect if it cannot find enough strong contributors.

Forecast Trend Report by Period

The Solana Foundation is overhauling the operating rules for its validator support program, the Solana Foundation Delegation Program, or SFDP. Support will be capped at 12 months, and validators will automatically exit the program once delegated stake reaches 300,000 SOL.

Jacob Creech, vice president of engineering at the Solana Foundation, gave the explanation in response to recent controversy over the SFDP overhaul, according to a Nov. 10 report by digital-asset media outlet BlockBeats.

Under the new rules, validators can participate in SFDP for a maximum of 12 months. They will automatically graduate from the program once staking reaches 300,000 SOL. The number of participating validators will also be capped at 100, and participants must operate their own validator nodes.

SFDP was set up to help new validators enter the network, keep the testnet running reliably and allow some validators to test network updates in advance.

As the Solana ecosystem and validator community have grown, Creech said, the existing support model has become less able to reflect the network's changing conditions. The foundation will instead delegate SOL more flexibly, focusing on network stability and contributions to the ecosystem.

Support for new validators will continue. Beyond SFDP, the foundation plans to expand separate SOL delegations to validators that have made major contributions to the network. It has previously delegated stake to ecosystem contributors including Blueshift and to validators that tested Frankendancer early.

Addressing concerns that the overhaul could reduce the number of validators, Creech said that shrinking the validator set is not the objective. He added that the number could decline as a side effect if the foundation cannot find enough high-quality contributors.

More than 100 validators have submitted related materials to continue receiving support, the report said.

Minseung Kang