Jito Liquid Staking

Our assessment

Jito holds $764m with two audits and reports linked. It is the largest liquid staking protocol on Solana and the one that made MEV revenue part of the staking return rather than an operator's private income.

MEV redistributed rather than extracted

Validators capture value from transaction ordering. Normally that accrues to whoever runs the infrastructure. Jito routes it back to stakers, which raises the yield above baseline staking and — more importantly — makes an opaque revenue stream visible and shared. That is a governance improvement as much as a yield one.

MEV is not free money

The revenue comes from transaction ordering, and much of it is ultimately paid by traders through worse execution. Participating in staking that captures MEV means participating in that economy. Reasonable people differ on whether structured, transparent MEV is better than the unstructured kind, and it is worth knowing which side of the trade you are on.

Evidence position

Two audits with linked reports is unusual among Solana protocols in this comparison, several of which publish nothing. Combined with the largest liquid staking position on the chain, that produces the strongest evidence profile of any Solana staking protocol here.

Who it suits

Jito fits Solana stakers who want the highest transparent yield and deep derivative liquidity. Stakers uncomfortable with MEV participation should stake natively or compare Marinade's native product.