What Is Jito? JitoSOL, Restaking, Bundles and the JTO Token

Jito Labs is the company behind the Jito-Solana validator client and the block engine. These let traders, bots and apps pay validators a tip to have transactions included in a particular order ³. By September 2025, Blockworks reported the Jito client running on more than 97% of the Solana network ⁶.

• Bundles. A bundle is up to five transactions that execute in order, in the same slot and all-or-nothing: if one fails, none land. A bundle includes a tip of at least 1,000 lamports to one of eight tip accounts. The docs warn that the minimum is often too low when demand is high ³. This all-or-nothing behavior is why the "maximum 5 transactions per bundle" limit matters to developers. Splitting a strategy across several bundles gives up that atomicity.
• Access. The block engine is reached through regional endpoints in Amsterdam, Dublin, Frankfurt, London, New York, Salt Lake City, Singapore and Tokyo. The default limit is one request per second per IP per region ³.
• BAM (Block Assembly Marketplace). BAM launched on mainnet in September 2025. It replaces the closed block engine with an open-source block-building framework, and its plugins let apps such as order-book exchanges set their own ordering rules ⁶.
• The mempool shutdown. In March 2024 Jito Labs switched off a mempool feature in its block engine after a rise in "sandwich attacks." In these attacks a bot trades just before and after a user's swap to profit at the user's expense ⁷.

JitoSOL is a token you receive when you deposit SOL into Jito's stake pool. Its value against SOL rises as rewards accrue. Rewards are not paid out separately; they are reflected in the token's exchange rate ¹. For the general mechanics, see liquid staking.

1. Deposit. Staking SOL through the Jito site mints JitoSOL straight away, and rewards start accruing ¹. If you deposit an existing stake account instead, the JitoSOL is held for 10 hours by a program called the Interceptor before it is released, at no fee ¹.
2. Delegation. An automated system called StakeNet picks roughly the top 400 validators every 20–30 days. It scores them on commission, voting performance, whether they run Jito's MEV software and their size, with no manual selection ¹.
3. Earning. Holders receive Solana inflation rewards after validator commission, plus MEV tips won in Jito's auction. The MEV share rises and falls with trading activity and volatility ¹.
4. Exiting. You have two routes. You can sell JitoSOL on a DEX (the docs mention Jupiter): this is instant, but price impact and slippage apply on large trades. Or you can unstake directly on the Jito site: this costs 0.1% and takes up to one epoch, about two days ¹.

Fees. Jito takes a management fee of 4% of rewards, after validators' own commission. The docs estimate this at about 0.3% of deposited value a year ¹. Under the governance rules, JTO holders can change pool fees and fee splits ⁴.

Risks. The docs name two ways JitoSOL could lose value against SOL: large-scale slashing (a penalty Solana does not currently enforce) and a critical smart-contract bug ¹. JitoSOL runs on the SPL stake pool program written by Solana Labs, which has three published audits ¹. Further risks are less obvious. JitoSOL's market price can briefly trade below its redemption value in stressed markets. DeFi protocols that accept JitoSOL as collateral add their own liquidation and contract risks. The Lido profile describes the same model on Ethereum for comparison: Lido.

Jito (Re)staking lets holders of JitoSOL and some other SOL-based tokens put those assets to work securing additional networks ⁵. These networks are called NCNs (node consensus networks), and they pay extra rewards for the security. Background: what is restaking.

• Vaults take deposits and issue VRTs (vault receipt tokens). You need the VRT to manage or withdraw your position, and it is burned when you withdraw ⁵.
• Each vault chooses which NCNs to support and which node operators to delegate to. Operators run the off-chain work but don't control the stake ⁵.
• NCNs listed for JitoSOL include TipRouter, Jito's own system for distributing MEV tip revenue, and Switchboard, an oracle network ⁵.
• Withdrawals have a two-epoch cooldown (about 4–5 days) before you can claim ⁵.
• Fees stack in layers. The protocol takes 4% of rewards and 0.1% on withdrawal. Each vault can set, and later change, its own deposit, withdrawal and reward fees, and operators may charge as well ⁵.
• Slashing depends on the NCN and may or may not be switched on. Jito tells users to check before depositing ⁵.
• Audits listed: OtterSec, Offside Labs, plus a Certora review ⁵.

Restaking is far smaller than JitoSOL. DefiLlama counted about $18 million in Jito Restaking on October 23, 2026, against about $1.09 billion in JitoSOL ⁹.

JTO is Jito's governance token, with a fixed supply of 1 billion ⁴. Holders form JitoDAO and vote on Jito Improvement Proposals (JIPs) through the Realms interface. They control treasury spending, protocol parameters, stake pool fees and fee splits ⁴. The Jito Foundation, a Cayman Islands foundation company, carries out the DAO's decisions ⁴.

Jito says DAO revenue comes from the JitoSOL management fee, 5.7% of Jito tips and BAM ⁸. In September 2025, JTO holders also voted to send Jito Labs' share of block-engine and BAM fees to the DAO ⁶. The token was introduced in December 2023 ⁷. This profile does not cover JTO price or price outlook.