Forward Industries, a publicly traded company with a Solana treasury, has launched its inaugural institutional-grade validator node on the Solana blockchain as part of a strategy to enhance its presence in the Solana ecosystem.
The company revealed the launch on Tuesday, indicating that the validator operates on DoubleZero’s fiber network, supported by Jump Crypto’s Firedancer, a new standalone Solana validator client.
Kyle Samani, the chairman of Forward Industries, stated that this initiative will strengthen Solana’s resilience and contribute to its status as “the benchmark for institutional adoption” in decentralized finance (DeFi).
Forward Industries currently holds the largest Solana-based crypto treasury, valued at nearly $1.7 billion. The company is supported by crypto leaders Galaxy Digital, Jump Crypto, and Multicoin Capital, with plans to increase its involvement in the network’s ecosystem.
Forward Industries joins Solana’s top 10 validators
The launch of Forward Industries’ validator has placed the entity among the top 10 largest validators in terms of Solana (SOL) tokens staked.
Block explorer Solana Beach indicated that all of Forward’s SOL holdings, approximately 6.8 million SOL tokens valued at nearly $1.7 billion, were staked.
This achievement allowed it to surpass established players like Staking Facilities and Coinbase, whose validators are ranked below Forward with 6.7 billion and 6.2 billion tokens, respectively.
According to Solana Beach, leading Solana validators include Binance staking, Helius, Figment, and Jupiter.
All these entities have over 10 billion Solana tokens staked, positioning them at the top in terms of token quantity.
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Forward launches validator with 0% commission
Validators are assessed not just by their stake size but also by their commission rates. These commissions represent the percentage of staking rewards that a validator retains before distributing earnings to delegators.
With a 0% commission, Forward ensures that all rewards go directly to stakers, whereas higher commissions diminish their yield.
In comparison, Binance Staking, the largest operator with 13.9 million SOL, charges delegators a 1% commission, while staking providers Figment and Ledger by Figment impose a 7% charge.
Among the top 10 validators, Coinbase has the highest fee, charging 8%, which significantly reduces returns for delegators.
However, the 0% commission may be a growth strategy rather than a long-term solution. Operating a validator incurs infrastructure costs, prompting companies to potentially increase their commission rates once a substantial stake is acquired.
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