This Is How Solana Wins With Lucas Bruder

The Solana ecosystem stands at a pivotal moment. With transaction volume surging and competition from specialized chains like Hyperliquid intensifying, the need for improved infrastructure has never been more pressing. Enter BAM—the Block Assembly Marketplace—Jito's ambitious answer to Solana's most pressing challenges around transaction ordering, transparency, and market microstructure.

In a comprehensive conversation on the Lightspeed podcast, Jito Labs CEO Lucas Bruder unveiled the technical architecture and strategic vision behind BAM, what he describes as one of the most consequential upgrades to Solana infrastructure in the network's history. The implications extend far beyond technical optimization—this is about positioning Solana to compete with upstart chains, attract institutional capital, and become the definitive home for on-chain trading across all asset classes.

Top Projects

Lulo

Score: 7,586.13

Bonk

Score: 4,806.12

Sphere

Score: 2,544.42

Moonwalk

Score: 2,026.11

The Jito Origin Story: From MEV Research to Core Infrastructure

Jito's journey to becoming essential Solana infrastructure began with a simple thesis about high-throughput blockchains. Lucas Bruder and his co-founder Ana started the company in 2021, recognizing that Solana's speed and low fees would inevitably generate significant MEV (Maximum Extractable Value) opportunities. The original vision focused on minimizing spam through off-chain auctions, running simulations to predict outcomes and finding transactions that would pay the most to validators.

The timing proved challenging. Two weeks after announcing their project, the crypto market entered a severe bear period. Trading activity on Solana slowed to a crawl, arbitrage opportunities became scarce, and the nascent Jito network operated with only three to four percent of stake running their validator client. Through 2023 and into 2024, however, the network effects began compounding as validators realized the revenue potential.

"Things really start kicking off in probably the end of 2023," Bruder explained. "If you look at the charts, it's just straight up since then." The Jito airdrop in December 2023 catalyzed adoption, though Bruder notes it was one of several airdrops driving activity during that period.

The unexpected inflection point came through network congestion. Events like the Ore mining frenzy exposed performance bottlenecks in Solana's core code and made landing transactions extremely difficult. Users naturally gravitated toward Jito's infrastructure as a more reliable pathway to block inclusion. This organic adoption transformed Jito from an MEV-focused tool into critical transaction routing infrastructure.

"The original audience that we envisioned was just not what we ended up getting," Bruder admitted. The company had built infrastructure for searchers and arbitrageurs, but found itself serving the entire spectrum of Solana users trying to execute trades during high-demand periods.

Understanding BAM's Technical Architecture

The Block Assembly Marketplace represents a fundamental reimagining of how transactions are sequenced on Solana. At its core, BAM moves transaction ordering into Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs), encrypted portions of processors where contents cannot be inspected and code execution can be verified through attestations.

The technical flow begins when a user sends a transaction to the Solana network. That transaction arrives at a BAM node, encrypted through Solana's QUIC networking protocol. The transaction enters the TEE's encrypted memory space, where it sits until being scheduled, sequenced, and forwarded to the validator for execution in FIFO (First In, First Out) order.

"No one will be able to inspect the packet and see what the contents are," Bruder explained. "Like, 'oh, this is a Raydium swap.' Eventually it'll just get scheduled and sequenced and sent out to the validator."

TEEs themselves are not novel technology—they exist in modern server-grade processors, Apple devices, and AWS Nitro Enclaves. The innovation lies in applying them to blockchain transaction processing and combining them with transparent, open-source sequencing logic that anyone can verify.

The system creates comprehensive recordings of all operations. When transactions pass through BAM, the system logs what was sent to which validator at what time. This audit trail enables unprecedented attribution when problems occur. If a user's transaction gets sandwiched, investigators can verify exactly which validator received the transaction and whether any unauthorized parties saw the order flow.

"One of the problems right now is that some of the attribution on Solana is super difficult," Bruder noted. "You'll send a transaction to some validator and somehow it gets sandwiched, and you don't really know what happened there."

The Privacy and Transparency Dual Mandate

BAM addresses an apparent paradox: users want their transactions kept private until execution, but they also want transparency about how the system operates. TEEs solve both problems simultaneously.

Transaction privacy comes from the encrypted memory environment. From the moment a transaction enters the BAM node until it's executed, no external party can read its contents. This eliminates the primary vector for sandwich attacks, where malicious actors detect pending swaps and insert their own transactions before and after to extract value.

Transparency emerges from the attestation system. Every BAM node runs verifiable code with a hash that corresponds to the open-source repository. Anyone can confirm exactly what sequencing logic is operating. The comprehensive logging means investigators can trace transaction flows when issues arise.

"You can imagine something where Jack sent a swap for Fartcoin, it went through BAM, and BAM says it got sent to this validator and only this validator," Bruder illustrated. "I see two transactions around Jack's thing that I didn't notice. And then you can kind of look closer and see what's going on."

The contrast with current infrastructure is stark. The existing Jito block engine operates as closed-source software. Users must trust that Jito Labs operates it honestly, with limited ability to verify claims or investigate problems. BAM replaces this trust assumption with cryptographic verification and transparent code.

Plugin Architecture: Enabling Application-Controlled Execution

Perhaps BAM's most strategically significant feature is its plugin system, which enables Application-Controlled Execution (ACE)—allowing individual protocols to define custom sequencing rules for transactions interacting with their smart contracts.

This capability directly addresses Solana's competitive disadvantage against specialized chains like Hyperliquid. The problem is market microstructure: on Solana today, market makers quoting on DEXs face constant risk of being "picked off" by faster traders who can detect price movements and extract value before market makers can update their quotes. This risk forces market makers to quote wider spreads, resulting in worse execution for users.

Hyperliquid solved this through maker speed bumps—mechanisms that give market makers a brief timing advantage over takers. This allows tighter quotes because market makers have time to cancel stale orders before they're executed against. Solana's permissionless architecture made implementing similar protections extremely difficult.

"I have some exchange running on Solana and I want to give the market makers a 20 millisecond or 10 millisecond advantage to takers so that I can quote tighter," Bruder explained. "That means for users, way better pricing. For DEXs on Solana, way more volume."

BAM plugins enable exactly this capability. An application like Drift can implement maker speed bumps without forking the validator client, building their own consensus layer, or leaving Solana entirely. The plugin runs within BAM's TEE environment, modifying how transactions for that specific protocol are sequenced while everything else operates normally.

The implications extend beyond existing Solana applications. Bruder revealed that teams from other chains have expressed interest in building on Solana specifically because BAM would enable market microstructure features they couldn't previously implement.

Competing with Hyperliquid and Specialized Chains

The shadow of Hyperliquid looms large over BAM's design. The specialized perpetuals exchange has captured significant market share that might otherwise flow to Solana, demonstrating that traders will migrate to platforms with superior execution quality even at the cost of reduced composability.

Bruder acknowledged this competitive dynamic evolved during BAM's development. "Day zero when we started thinking about this back in November, we weren't even really thinking about it," he said. "But probably around February or March of this year, we really saw the success of Hyperliquid and people building new chains trying to do the same thing."

The traditional response for Solana applications facing execution quality disadvantages has been launching application-specific chains. This fragments liquidity, reduces composability, and ultimately weakens the broader ecosystem. BAM offers an alternative: applications can stay on Solana, benefit from shared liquidity and composability, while still implementing the market microstructure features they need.

"One of the reasons why people go off and try to create their own chain, especially some of the Solana native teams, is because they want to have more control over the market structure," Bruder explained. "Hopefully BAM is enough for them to come back."

The first plugin partner is Drift, Solana's prominent perpetuals DEX. If Drift can successfully implement maker speed bumps through BAM, it could fundamentally alter the competitive calculus for perpetuals traders choosing between platforms.

Performance Improvements and Speed Optimization

Beyond market structure improvements, BAM targets significant performance gains. The development team rewrote substantial portions of validator execution code and is examining the QUIC networking stack for optimization opportunities.

"The goal is definitely for things to go a lot faster," Bruder stated. "We're in crunch mode right now, but we want to take a closer look at the QUIC networking stack and other pieces of BAM code."

These performance improvements matter for two reasons. First, faster transaction processing improves user experience across all Solana applications. Second, and perhaps more importantly, speed improvements reduce the viability of certain MEV strategies that rely on latency advantages.

The team has committed to upstreaming performance improvements where possible—contributing optimizations back to core Solana clients so even validators not running BAM benefit from the research.

BAM Nodes: A New Network Layer

BAM introduces a distinct network layer of dedicated nodes separate from Solana validators. These nodes run the TEE-enabled sequencing infrastructure and require specific hardware capabilities to operate correctly.

By year-end, Jito targets approximately 100 BAM nodes operated by multiple independent parties globally. This distribution ensures the system avoids single points of failure while maintaining the performance characteristics required for low-latency transaction processing.

The node operator profile differs from traditional validator requirements. "No potato rule," Bruder noted, indicating high performance requirements including substantial bandwidth capacity. Operators must demonstrate long-term alignment with Solana's growth and commitment to honest operation.

Potential operators include professional validator operations like Kiln and INF Stones, but Bruder emphasized openness to diverse participants: "It could be some teenage kid that wants to run one that's shown he's doing good things." The primary criteria are technical capability, Solana alignment, and operational reliability rather than institutional pedigree.

An ecosystem advisory committee will help govern node operator selection and system evolution. "We don't just want to be building this alone," Bruder explained. "The goal is to enable this, create a lot of value, and get more than just Jito involved in the decision-making process."

Revenue Models and Value Distribution

BAM fundamentally restructures how value flows through Solana's transaction processing layer. Currently, MEV extraction benefits accrue to searchers, validators, and (through tips) Jito stakeholders. Users and applications generating the underlying activity capture relatively little of this value.

The plugin system creates new revenue opportunities for applications. By controlling transaction ordering within their protocols, applications can either capture value that would otherwise go to MEV extractors or create better execution for users—likely some combination of both.

"If we can get super tight spreads on Solana and get a lot of volume going, then that will enable applications to generate a lot of fees and hopefully they share those fees with token holders," Bruder predicted. He pointed to Raydium's aggressive buyback programs as an example of how application revenue can benefit token holders.

Simultaneously, Jito Labs announced a significant change to its own revenue model. Previously, the company retained some portion of block engine tips. Going forward, all fees will flow to the Jito DAO, with a sub-DAO structure determining allocation—potentially including buybacks.

"The regulatory tailwind is definitely in our favor now," Bruder explained, referencing recent guidance suggesting most tokens are not securities. This clarity enabled the transition to a more token-aligned revenue model that the team had hesitated to implement during the previous administration's enforcement-focused approach.

Bundles and Backward Compatibility

The existing bundle system—enabling atomic execution of multiple transactions—will persist alongside BAM. Initially, bundles will flow through the current Jito Labs block engine and be forwarded to BAM for execution.

The team has deliberately moved carefully on expanding bundle access within BAM. The concern relates to denial-of-service risks: bundles don't pay fees if they fail, creating incentives to spam the system with low-probability bundles. Jito wants to ensure high success rates for processed bundles before opening access more broadly.

"If I'm a validator, I don't want to spend my time on a bunch of garbage," Bruder explained. "We want to make sure a high percentage of the bundles we're getting are going to succeed."

The existing block engine will continue operating during the transition period, providing spam protection and bundle processing while BAM validates in production.

Deployment Timeline and Testing Strategy

BAM will deploy incrementally rather than through a single network upgrade. Within weeks of the announcement, a small amount of stake will begin running BAM on mainnet. This controlled rollout enables real-world testing while limiting blast radius if issues emerge.

Plugin deployment will parallel the mainnet expansion, with ACE features targeting availability during the initial deployment phase. "Prioritizing cancels should be pretty simple to implement," Bruder noted, suggesting maker speed bumps could arrive relatively quickly.

The team acknowledged significant work remains. BAM represents a substantial code change, and the transition from closed-source to open-source operation introduces new complexity around security and documentation.

The Centralization Question

Critics have raised concerns about BAM increasing Jito's already substantial influence over Solana transaction processing. With over 85% of stake running Jito-Solana, adding another infrastructure layer controlled by the same team appears to concentrate power further.

Bruder's response emphasized optionality and openness. "It's open source code. It's just code. There's no requirement to run this," he stated. "We hope people run it because it's good."

The comparison to existing schedulers provides useful context. Solana validators already choose between multiple scheduling implementations—the Agave scheduler, Fire Dancer scheduler, and various custom implementations. BAM represents another scheduling option with additional features, not a required network upgrade.

The open-source nature means other teams can audit the code, submit improvements, or fork the project entirely. This contrasts with the current closed-source block engine where users must simply trust Jito's operation.

The ecosystem advisory committee structure further distributes governance. Rather than Jito Labs making unilateral decisions about BAM evolution, the committee will involve validators, applications, and other stakeholders in shaping the system's development.

MEV Landscape Evolution

Interestingly, Bruder revealed that traditional MEV—arbitrage, liquidations, and similar strategies—generates less revenue than Jito initially anticipated. "The chain's getting faster. Aggregators are getting really good," he explained. Most revenue comes from users trading meme coins rather than sophisticated MEV extraction.

This represents maturation rather than failure. Efficient arbitrage means prices stay consistent across venues, reducing opportunities for extractive strategies. Better aggregators mean users capture more value from their trades rather than losing it to information asymmetries.

"It's a good sign. There isn't free money lying around," Bruder observed. The reduced MEV opportunity set partially motivated BAM's focus on value creation rather than value extraction—building features that improve user outcomes rather than optimizing MEV capture.

Institutional Adoption and the Long-Term Vision

Bruder's vision extends far beyond optimizing meme coin trading. He envisions Solana as the definitive venue for on-chain trading across all asset classes—stocks, securities, even initial public offerings.

"Hopefully there's chain-native IPOs," he said, referencing a recent tweet from Robert Leshner about conducting public offerings on-chain. "Hopefully everything is trading on Solana 24/7."

This vision requires institutional-grade execution quality. Today, institutions wanting to purchase SOL use centralized exchanges. BAM aims to change that: "If you are an institution and you want to buy SOL, you don't just look at centralized exchanges, you go on Solana and you can get really deep liquidity and very good execution."

The technical requirements for this vision include sub-second finality, deep liquidity across major pairs, and execution quality competitive with traditional market venues. BAM addresses the execution quality component while other ecosystem developments tackle liquidity and settlement.

Personal Stakes and Regulatory Relief

The interview revealed the personal toll that regulatory uncertainty took on Jito's leadership. "I've definitely lost sleep during the last administration thinking, 'Am I going to get in trouble or something?'" Bruder admitted. He and his wife "talked multiple times about leaving the U.S."

This regulatory pressure influenced structural decisions. The hesitation to send revenue to token holders stemmed from securities classification concerns—a very real risk that made conservative approaches prudent regardless of philosophical preferences.

The recent shift in regulatory posture—exemplified by guidance that most tokens are not securities—enabled the revenue restructuring that accompanies BAM. Labs can now channel all fees to the DAO without the same legal exposure that characterized the previous administration's approach.

Why Solana Specifically

Asked why he remains committed specifically to Solana rather than exploring other chains, Bruder emphasized three factors: technical scalability, fee accessibility, and personal investment.

"Solana is one of the only architectures we've seen that truly scales in production today," he noted. Transaction throughput has grown from roughly 200 TPS in 2021-2022 to 600-700 TPS currently, with substantial headroom remaining. This scaling trajectory keeps fees low enough that "anyone can participate"—unlike Ethereum where multi-dollar fees during congestion price out smaller users.

The personal investment factor cannot be understated. "The last four years of my life have been focused 100% on Solana," Bruder said. "We launched Jito SOL, we're doing activity advancing Solana's institutional side, talking to the SEC about Solana. It's kind of personal now—we got to do the best we can to make it successful."

This commitment extends throughout the organization. Jito has built its entire business around Solana, hiring specifically for Solana expertise and investing in Solana-specific infrastructure that would have limited applicability elsewhere.

Reception and Criticism Management

Initial response to BAM has been "super positive" according to Bruder, particularly from validators who received previews before the public announcement. Application teams—both existing Solana protocols and teams considering migration from other chains—have expressed enthusiasm about new capabilities.

The team has weathered criticism with characteristic directness. "You've got to have pretty thick skin," Bruder acknowledged. "Some of the feedback's good. And then some of it you just have to ignore and keep building and stay focused."

The focus on demonstrable value creation over argumentation reflects engineering culture. Rather than debating critics in public forums, the team prioritizes shipping features that prove their thesis through user adoption and measurable outcomes.

Technical Differentiation from Existing Solutions

BAM differs fundamentally from previous approaches to MEV mitigation and transaction ordering on Solana. Earlier solutions typically involved trust assumptions—users trusted intermediaries to behave honestly without verification mechanisms.

The TEE-based approach replaces trust with verification. Users can confirm the code running in BAM nodes matches the published source code through cryptographic attestation. This verification doesn't require understanding the code—it simply confirms that the actual executing code matches the auditable published version.

The plugin architecture similarly advances beyond previous attempts at application-controlled execution. Earlier approaches required forking validator clients, creating fragmentation and adoption barriers. A hypothetical DEX wanting maker speed bumps would need to convince validators to run their specific fork, competing against other forks for attention and potentially fragmenting the validator set.

BAM plugins operate within a standardized framework. Applications specify their sequencing requirements, and BAM nodes execute them without requiring per-application validator forks. This dramatically lowers the barrier to adoption while maintaining the flexibility applications need.

The Broader Ecosystem Context

BAM emerges against a backdrop of intense competition in the blockchain trading landscape. Hyperliquid has demonstrated that traders will choose execution quality over ecosystem network effects. Multiple teams are building specialized chains optimized for specific trading use cases.

Solana's response has been multi-pronged. Core client optimizations continue improving base layer performance. Aggregators reduce information asymmetry and improve user execution. And now BAM provides the application-level flexibility that specialized chains offered without requiring ecosystem fragmentation.

The cumulative effect positions Solana as a comprehensive trading platform rather than simply a fast blockchain. Users get the benefits of a unified liquidity pool and composable protocols while applications can optimize their specific market microstructures.

Governance and Decision-Making Structures

The transition of Jito Labs revenue to the DAO raises governance questions. How will token holders decide between buybacks, development funding, and other uses? Who determines plugin approval criteria? How will the ecosystem advisory committee operate?

Bruder expressed some ambivalence about fully decentralized decision-making for all topics. "We saw some of this with the Jupiter DAO. People were discussing salaries, and it's like we don't need to talk about that," he noted. Some operational decisions—including compensation, acquisition strategy, and confidential negotiations—function poorly in public forums.

The current structure maintains Labs operational autonomy while redirecting revenue to token holders. A JIP (Jito Improvement Proposal) formalizing the revenue transition was forthcoming at the time of the interview.

The ecosystem advisory committee represents a middle ground—broader input without the inefficiencies of fully public governance. This structure allows sensitive technical decisions to incorporate diverse perspectives while maintaining operational agility.

What Success Looks Like

Bruder articulated clear success metrics for BAM: healthier on-chain markets, successful central limit order books, and reduced incentives for Solana applications to launch separate chains.

"The goal is we can have both," he said, referencing the apparent tradeoff between specialized optimization and ecosystem participation. Applications shouldn't need to choose between Solana's liquidity and composability versus the market structure features their users demand.

Quantitatively, success means tighter spreads on major trading pairs, higher volume through Solana DEXs relative to Hyperliquid and similar competitors, and migration of applications that had considered separate chains back to Solana.

The broader success case involves asset class expansion beyond crypto-native tokens. If securities, traditional assets, and eventually IPOs can trade on Solana with institutional-grade execution, the platform transcends its origins as a crypto trading venue.

Conclusion: Infrastructure for Solana's Next Chapter

BAM represents more than technical optimization—it's infrastructure for Solana's evolution from a fast meme coin trading venue to a comprehensive financial platform. The combination of TEE-based privacy, transparent open-source operation, and flexible application plugins addresses multiple pain points simultaneously.

The competitive implications are significant. Hyperliquid and similar specialized chains have demonstrated market demand for better execution quality. BAM enables Solana applications to match these capabilities while retaining ecosystem benefits.

For users, the primary impact will be improved execution—less sandwich attacking, tighter spreads, and more reliable transaction landing. For applications, BAM offers new revenue streams and competitive capabilities. For validators, it represents another choice in the scheduling landscape with potentially superior economics.

The rollout's incremental nature means impacts will emerge gradually. Initial deployment with limited stake allows production testing while maintaining safety margins. Plugin deployment will proceed in parallel, with ACE features like maker speed bumps arriving early in the rollout.

Bruder's commitment to Solana—"it's kind of personal now"—reflects the intensity that has characterized Jito's development from MEV research project to core infrastructure. That commitment, combined with BAM's technical innovations, positions Jito to remain central to Solana's transaction processing for years to come.

The question is no longer whether Solana can compete with specialized chains on execution quality. With BAM, the question becomes whether applications will choose to leverage these new capabilities—and early partner enthusiasm suggests they will.

Facts + Figures

• Over 85% of Solana stake currently runs the Jito Solana validator client, making it the dominant client on the network.

• Jito Labs was founded in 2021, with the original focus on MEV research and minimizing spam through off-chain auctions.

• During the 2022-2023 bear market, only 3-4% of Solana stake was running Jito's validator client before adoption accelerated.

• The Jito airdrop occurred in December 2023, coinciding with a significant increase in network adoption.

• BAM will utilize Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs), which exist in most modern server-grade processors, Apple devices, and AWS Nitro Enclaves.

• Solana's transaction throughput has grown from approximately 200 TPS in 2021-2022 to 600-700 TPS currently.

• By year-end, Jito targets approximately 100 BAM nodes operated by multiple independent parties globally.

• BAM development began in late 2024 (November), with competitive considerations around Hyperliquid intensifying by February-March 2025.

• Bundles in the current Jito system can contain 1-5 transactions that execute atomically (all-or-nothing).

• Jito Labs announced all fees will now flow to the Jito DAO rather than being retained by the company.

• Lucas Bruder revealed that traditional MEV (arbitrage, liquidations) generates less revenue than initially anticipated—most fees come from users trading meme coins.

• The BAM mainnet deployment is expected to begin with a small amount of stake "within weeks" of the announcement.

• Drift is named as the first plugin partner for BAM's application-controlled execution features.

• Lucas Bruder stated he and his wife discussed leaving the United States multiple times due to regulatory uncertainty during the previous administration.

• BAM plugins will enable applications to implement maker speed bumps (10-20 millisecond advantages for market makers over takers) without forking validator clients.

• The entire BAM codebase will be open source, contrasting with the current closed-source Jito block engine.

Questions Answered

What is BAM and why is it significant for Solana?

BAM (Block Assembly Marketplace) is Jito's new architecture for Solana transaction processing that moves sequencing into Trusted Execution Environments. This represents one of the most consequential upgrades to Solana infrastructure in the network's history. BAM addresses multiple pain points including sandwich attacks, lack of transparency in transaction ordering, and Solana's competitive disadvantage against specialized chains like Hyperliquid. By enabling application-controlled execution through plugins, BAM allows Solana DEXs to implement features like maker speed bumps without forking validator clients or launching separate chains.

How do Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs) protect users from sandwich attacks?

TEEs keep transaction contents private from the moment they enter the BAM node until execution, eliminating the primary vector for sandwich attacks. When a user sends a transaction, it arrives encrypted through Solana's QUIC protocol and remains in encrypted memory within the TEE until sequencing and forwarding to the validator. No external party—including the node operator—can inspect packet contents to see swap details. Additionally, BAM creates comprehensive logs that enable attribution when issues occur, allowing investigators to trace exactly which validator received specific transactions.

Can Solana perps DEXs now compete with Hyperliquid?

Yes, BAM's plugin system enables Solana applications to implement the same market microstructure features that give Hyperliquid its execution advantage. Specifically, applications like Drift can implement maker speed bumps—giving market makers a 10-20 millisecond advantage over takers—allowing them to quote tighter spreads without being constantly picked off by faster traders. This addresses the core reason why some traders prefer Hyperliquid. The key difference is that Solana applications retain the benefits of shared liquidity and composability while gaining execution quality improvements.

What happens to the existing Jito block engine when BAM launches?

The existing block engine will continue operating during the transition period and possibly beyond. It currently provides spam protection for the network and handles substantial load that Jito doesn't want to immediately disrupt. Bundles will initially flow through the current block engine and be forwarded to BAM for execution. The team will evaluate the block engine's future on a multi-month time horizon based on how the BAM transition proceeds and whether the block engine's spam protection functions remain necessary.

How will BAM plugins work for applications?

BAM plugins allow applications to define custom sequencing rules for transactions interacting with their protocols. Rather than each application needing its own validator client fork, plugins run within BAM's standardized TEE environment. The initial focus is on generic plugins that any application can permissionlessly enable—particularly prioritizing cancels (maker speed bumps) for trading applications. Applications specify their sequencing requirements, and BAM nodes execute them automatically, dramatically lowering the barrier to implementing application-controlled execution on Solana.

Will validators be required to run BAM?

No, BAM is entirely optional for validators. It functions as another scheduler choice alongside the Agave scheduler, Fire Dancer scheduler, and various custom implementations. Jito hopes validators will adopt BAM because it provides better features and potentially superior economics, but there is no requirement. The open-source nature means validators can inspect the code before deciding whether to run it, and they can continue using existing schedulers if they prefer.

What is the revenue model for BAM and Jito going forward?

Jito Labs announced that all fees will flow to the Jito DAO rather than being retained by the company. A sub-DAO structure will determine allocation of these funds, potentially including buybacks. This transition was enabled by improved regulatory clarity in the United States suggesting most tokens are not securities. For applications using BAM plugins, the system creates new revenue opportunities by allowing them to capture value from transaction ordering that would otherwise go to MEV extractors, or to improve user execution quality—or both.

When will BAM be available on Solana mainnet?

BAM will deploy incrementally starting with a small amount of stake running on mainnet within weeks of the announcement. Plugin features targeting application-controlled execution are expected during this initial deployment phase. The team is in "crunch mode" finalizing the release, with prioritizing cancels (maker speed bumps) described as "pretty simple to implement" and likely available early in the rollout. By year-end, the target is approximately 100 BAM nodes operated by multiple independent parties.

Why did Jito decide to build BAM instead of continuing with the existing block engine?

Several factors drove the decision: the existing architecture wouldn't scale to projected 2K, 5K, or 10K TPS; the closed-source block engine limited transparency; the team wanted to decentralize operations beyond just Jito Labs; and users were requesting features that the team couldn't implement while "fighting fires 24/7." BAM addresses all these concerns through open-source TEE-based sequencing, a distributed node operator model, and the plugin architecture enabling new features without constant block engine modifications.