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The full version of Firedancer — a very-performant re-write of Solana’s validator software authored by Jump Crypto — may still be a ways away. But in the meantime, Solana validators still can use a limited version of the client named Frankendancer.
Frankendancer was spawned by Jump taking the Agave client, which is descended from the original Solana Labs software, and replacing parts of it piecemeal to create a new client akin to Frankenstein’s monster. Frankendancer went to Solana mainnet in September during Solana’s Breakpoint conference — but since then, it’s seen limited uptake.
So far, 12 validators controlling roughly 5.4 million staked SOL are running Frankendancer, according to data from Validatorbase. That’s out of 392 million staked SOL in existence, according to Solana Compass.
The “main reason most validators aren’t running [Frankendancer] yet is because it doesn’t capture MEV efficiently,” Temporal engineering partner Ben Coverston told me.
Maximal extractible value, or MEV, is the processing of adding, removing, or reordering transactions in a block to extract extra value. Many Solana validators capture MEV by running the Jito-Solana client, which is a version of the Agave client with MEV modifications attached.
MEV is quite lucrative for Solana validators. Around 25% of validator staking rewards — which can be thought of like the revenue a validator creates by running Solana — currently come from MEV, according to a Dune dashboard. Roughly 65% of the rewards come from SOL issuance, and 10% comes from fees.
It’s not impossible to capture MEV without Jito, Coverston added, but it is certainly more difficult, so any validators who want to run Frankendancer are likely looking at a lower return on their investment.
That’s not to say there’s no reason to run Frankendancer. Phase Labs announced today that its validator has upgraded to the Frankendancer client, calling the software “the next leap forward” for Solana.
Phase’s Aeropool stake pool has specifically said that its stake delegation strategy is to empower positive Solana contributors rather than only chase the highest APY.
Most validators don’t share this strategy — over 93% of Solana validators currently use Jito-Solana. On testnet, they may begin seeing some pressure to try Frankendancer however: Solana developer shop Anza has talked about beginning to push for a Frankendancer supermajority of stake on testnet next week.
