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Automated Management via Stakenet

How JitoSOL stake moves automatically

Over time, as people deposit SOL into the reserve, or as validator performance varies, it becomes necessary to move stake around. Jito now uses Stakenet – a blend of on-chain programs and off-chain "keepers" – to automatically manage JitoSOL's stake distribution across validators.

Design Principles

On-chain decision making
The Steward and Validator History programs manage stake allocation decisions directly on Solana, ensuring transparency and verifiability.

Community governance
All system parameters can be adjusted through Jito DAO governance, allowing the community to influence delegation criteria and safety mechanisms.

Decentralized execution
Multiple independent keepers execute the system's decisions, removing single points of failure while maintaining network health and optimal yields.

Evolution from the previous stake-bot

The original Kobe system was an automated off-chain service that stored network information about validators and delegated stake according to each validator's performance. While functional, this approach had limitations:

  • Centralized signing authority
  • Off-chain logic that was harder to audit
  • Limited community visibility into decision-making

Stakenet addresses these limitations with an on-chain-first design where logic is transparent and keepers are permissionless.

Stakenet architecture

ComponentFunctionLocation
Validator History ProgramStores up to 512 epochs of validator performance, commission, and MEV dataOn-chain program
Steward ProgramEvaluates validators, determines target stake allocations, and manages rebalancing via a state machineOn-chain program
Keeper BotExecutes the permissionless transactions required by the Steward and uploads validator dataOff-chain service (Docker or binary)

The system operates with on-chain programs making decisions and off-chain keepers executing those decisions.

How stake rebalancing works

  1. Scoring phase – Every 10 epochs, the Steward evaluates over 1,000 validators
  2. Target calculation – The top 400 validators (configurable) are selected, each receiving an equal target allocation
  3. Monitoring – Keepers continuously update validator performance data
  4. Instant unstake evaluation – Each epoch, validators that meet certain negative criteria are marked for immediate removal from the pool
  5. Rebalancing – Keepers execute stake delegation and undelegation transactions to move validators toward their targets, subject to safety caps
  6. Cycle repetition – The process continues until the next scoring phase

All parameters governing this process are stored on-chain and can be modified through Jito DAO governance.

Running a keeper

Community members can optionally run their own keepers. See the Keeper Quick-Start guide for detailed setup instructions.

Monitoring and transparency