Jump Crypto is building a validation client for the Solana blockchain

Jump Crypto announced on Tuesday that it will build a new validation client for the Solana blockchain network. The client will be built using the C++ programming language, offering an alternative to the Rust-based software that underlies the existing validation client offered by Solana Labs.

The move is significant because Jump Crypto, a subsidiary of Chicago-based Jump Trading, is a major player in the crypto world with significant investments across the industry, including a number of Solana-related projects. Jump Crypto’s president, Kanav Kariya, described the validation initiative in a statement as “wildly ambitious.”

Validators provide a crucial role in proof-of-stake blockchains like Solana by attesting the legitimacy of transactions posted to the chain. Anyone can serve as a validator provided they have the required amount of Solana’s native currency, SOL, and act in a manner beneficial to the network. Many Solana validators, including Coinbase Cloud and Jump Crypto itself, also offer “staking” services – allowing smaller users to add their own SOL to the validator pool, earning a share of the rewards that validators receive for providing the service.

In his statement, Kariya also noted that Jump Crypto’s validation project will serve to make the Solana network faster and more reliable.

In response to a question about the new validation client’s relationship to the existing one, a Solana spokesperson provided the following explanation:

“In plain language, Solana Labs has an engineering team solely focused on building what has been the only software in the world capable of powering the Solana network. Now there will be an entirely new initiative that will be able to coexist and operate the Solana network as well.”

In announcing the new validation client, Jump Crypto said the project would help accelerate the adoption of Solana, and also stimulate further technical improvements and increased decentralization on the network.

Jump Crypto’s claims that the new project will improve the technical performance of Solana are likely to prove true since the company has deep pockets and a reputation for innovation. The contributions are also likely to be good timing as the network suffered an embarrassing series of crashes and outages earlier this year.

However, the company’s claim that the validator client will increase decentralization may raise eyebrows in some quarters. This is because Jump Crypto has invested heavily in Solana and has also come to its rescue on several occasions – most notably when they spent $320 million to save a Solana-affiliated project that suffered a catastrophic hack. Meanwhile, the Solana founders and executives at Jump Crypto and its parent company appear to be working closely together.

These close connections between Solana and the Chicago trading giant could add further grist to critics who say Solana lacks the decentralization of Bitcoin or rival Ethereum.

But for now, an infusion of technical expertise from Jump Crypto, and the potential for the new validation client to attract more people to the network, is likely to be an overall boon for Solana — one that will outweigh criticisms related to the project’s governance structure.

“Through Jump’s decade of work solving some of the most complex network challenges across traditional financial markets, we’ve seen firsthand the impact that improving a network’s speed and efficiency can have on an entire financial system,” said Kevin Bowers, a Jump Krypto leader and former UC-Berkeley researcher, who leads the validator project.