Forward Industries, a publicly traded company focused on Solana treasury, has launched its first institutional-grade validator node on the Solana blockchain, aiming to enhance its participation in the Solana ecosystem.
The company announced this launch on Tuesday, highlighting that the validator is powered by DoubleZero’s fiber network and utilizes Jump Crypto’s Firedancer, an independent Solana validator client.
Kyle Samani, chairman of Forward Industries, stated that this initiative strengthens Solana’s resilience and positions it as “the standard for institutional adoption” in decentralized finance (DeFi).
Currently, Forward Industries is the custodian of the largest Solana-based crypto treasury, valued around $1.7 billion. The company receives backing from notable crypto firms like Galaxy Digital, Jump Crypto, and Multicoin Capital and intends to increase its involvement in the network’s ecosystem.
Forward Industries joins Solana’s top 10 validators
The launch of Forward Industries’ validator has quickly positioned it among the top 10 validators by Solana (SOL) tokens staked.
Block explorer Solana Beach indicates that all of Forward’s SOL holdings—approximately 6.8 million SOL tokens worth nearly $1.7 billion—were staked.
This achievement allowed Forward to outstrip established entities like Staking Facilities and Coinbase, whose validators hold 6.7 billion and 6.2 billion tokens, respectively.
According to Solana Beach, the top validators in Solana are Binance staking, Helius, Figment, and Jupiter.
These entities each have over 10 billion Solana tokens staked, placing them at the top regarding token amounts.
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Forward launches validator with 0% commission
Validators are assessed based on both their stake size and their commission rates. Commissions indicate the portion of staking rewards a validator retains before sharing earnings with delegators.
Forward’s decision to implement a 0% commission allows all rewards to go directly to stakers, while higher commission rates diminish staker yields.
In contrast, Binance Staking, the largest operator with 13.9 million SOL, imposes a 1% commission on delegators, while Figment and Ledger by Figment charge 7%.
Among the top 10 validators, Coinbase has the highest commission at 8%, resulting in the lowest returns for delegators in this category.
However, the 0% commission may serve as a strategy for growth rather than a permanent rate. Operating a validator incurs infrastructure costs, and companies might increase their commission once they achieve a significant stake.
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