Liquid staking on Solana has become a mature market. Most staking tokens compete on the same fundamentals: validator performance, staking rewards, and MEV revenue.
Raiku believes there’s another source of yield hiding in plain sight.
The company has launched rkuSOL, a new liquid staking token that allows stakers to earn not only traditional staking rewards but also revenue generated from selling Solana blockspace through Raiku’s coordination auctions. The launch is backed by several of Solana’s largest infrastructure and DeFi players, including Sanctum, Kamino, Loopscale, and Exponent.
The result is what Raiku describes as the first Solana liquid staking token tied directly to blockspace auction revenue.
Turning Blockspace Into a Yield Source
For years, Solana validators have earned revenue primarily through block production and, more recently, MEV-related activity.
Raiku’s argument is that validators sit on another valuable asset: access to blockspace itself.
Through Raiku’s reservation system, validators can sell transaction inclusion rights through Ahead-of-Time (AOT) and Just-in-Time (JIT) auctions. Traders and applications bid for guaranteed execution, while validators receive revenue from those auctions.
With rkuSOL, that revenue is passed through to stakers alongside traditional staking rewards.
“For forty years, TradFi venues have earned from a stack of revenue lines,” said Robin Nordnes, Founder and CEO of Raiku.
“Solana validators have only ever sold one: block production. With rkuSOL, the validators behind it start selling a second — blockspace through Raiku’s auctions. That revenue flows back to stakers.”
The model introduces a new variable into Solana staking economics. Instead of relying solely on staking emissions and MEV activity, validator earnings can increasingly be tied to demand for transaction execution and blockspace access.
Built on Existing Solana Infrastructure
From a user perspective, rkuSOL functions like any other liquid staking token.
Users stake SOL with validators integrated into Raiku’s network and receive rkuSOL in return. The token represents a claim on the underlying stake pool, with its exchange rate increasing over time as rewards accumulate.
Raiku says both the stake pool architecture and Sanctum’s liquid staking infrastructure rely on existing Solana primitives and audited contracts rather than custom staking mechanisms.
That compatibility has helped the project launch with broad ecosystem support from day one.
Sanctum provides the underlying liquid staking infrastructure and routes rkuSOL through its Infinity liquidity network. Kamino has integrated the asset as collateral across its lending markets, Loopscale supports it in fixed-rate lending products, and Exponent has listed rkuSOL on its yield marketplace.
A dedicated RockawayX yield vault has also launched to provide users with managed exposure to the asset.
A New Asset Class for Solana DeFi?
Several launch partners believe rkuSOL’s significance goes beyond simply offering another staking token.
Most existing liquid staking assets derive their yield from largely identical sources. As a result, differentiation between assets can be limited.
Loopscale Co-Founder Luke Truitt argues that rkuSOL introduces something new to the market: exposure to demand for blockspace itself.
“Most Solana LSTs price yield against staking and MEV,” Truitt said. “The validators behind rkuSOL earn additional yield through blockspace sold in Raiku’s auctions, giving users an opportunity to speculate on demand in excess of the native staking rate.”
If blockspace demand continues growing alongside institutional trading, automated execution systems, and onchain applications, the model could create an entirely new category of yield generation within Solana’s staking economy.
Expanding Access Across Solana
The project launches with six external validator partners already participating, with additional validators expected to join throughout the year.
Importantly, rkuSOL is also available through two of Solana’s largest consumer-facing applications.
Both Phantom and Jupiter support the asset from launch, allowing users to access rkuSOL directly through interfaces they already use today.
The launch comes as competition across Solana’s staking ecosystem continues intensifying. Liquid staking has become one of the network’s most important infrastructure layers, with protocols increasingly looking for ways to differentiate yield beyond traditional staking rewards.
For Raiku, the answer may be simple: treat blockspace as a product and let validators sell it.
If the model gains traction, rkuSOL could mark the beginning of a new category of staking assets where yield is tied not just to securing the network, but to the growing economic value of access to the network itself.
