As the number of validators on the Solana network continues to decline, voter turnout has also seen a sharp drop.
Daily validators have dropped below 800, reaching levels last seen in 2021, representing a decline of over 65 percent in three years compared to a peak of approximately 2,500 validators at the beginning of 2023.
Validators are independent nodes that run Solana software to verify transactions and generate blocks. These participants, who stake SOL in the proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism and vote on blocks, play a critical role in the network’s security. However, the decrease in the number of validators has directly impacted voting activity. The daily number of votes submitted by validators to approve blocks has dropped from approximately 300,000 to around 170,000.
According to the data, the number of validators fell below 800 for the first time last month and has remained at that level since the beginning of the year. Changing economic conditions are the main reason behind this decline. In particular, the decreasing vote cost subsidies and stake matching policies provided under the Delegation Program run by the Solana Foundation are increasing pressure on smaller validators. The gradual reduction in subsidies makes it difficult for validators without sufficient delegation and income to cover voting fees and infrastructure costs.
Validators need to submit thousands of transactions daily to stay synchronized with the network. When there isn’t enough staked SOL available, the returns can fall short of these costs, making node operation economically unsustainable.
On the other hand, despite the contraction in the number of validators, non-voting transactions, which include user-generated transactions, remain strong. These transactions, which include decentralized exchange transactions, dApp interactions, and token transfers, have remained stable at around 100 million per day.
*This is not investment advice.
