The Solana Foundation will be cutting support for validators with less than 1000 SOL external stake, which will affect about 150 validators. This move is aimed at promoting self-reliance and decentralization within the network. Validators stake SOL to propose blocks and ensure network security, and those relying solely on the Foundation’s Delegated Program could be negatively impacted by this decision. The reduction in support from the Foundation could put more pressure on small validators, with the potential for revenue to decline significantly.
As of 2025, the Foundation validator support accounted for about 10.5% of the total stake, down from 20% in 2022. There are currently 1,224 active Solana validators with a total staked SOL of 389.4 million tokens. About 900 of these validators were supported by the SFDP, but top nodes do not rely on the Foundation for support. The decrease in revenue for validator operators, from $15.9 million to $1.3 million between January and April, could have a significant impact on the profitability of small validators.
Market sentiment has been negative for the past two days, and the validator update has not changed the overall outlook. The price of SOL may face resistance at $150 unless Bitcoin climbs higher towards $100K. Although the price action remains strong according to indicators such as Stochastic RSI and whale positioning, bulls will need to reclaim the $150-$160 level to demonstrate greater strength. Overall, the move towards self-reliance and decentralization within the Solana network may have implications for validator operators and the overall market sentiment.
