Jito reports BAM adoption doubles to 28% in Q1 2026 call

Jito’s Block Assembly Marketplace just doubled its footprint on Solana in three months. The protocol’s network stake share jumped from 14.0% to 28.1% during Q1 2026.

The raw numbers tell the story clearly: staked SOL on BAM climbed from 59.2 million to 119.3 million, while the validator count grew from 233 to 363. That’s a 56% increase in validators and a near-perfect doubling of staked capital, all in a single quarter.

What BAM actually does, and why validators are flocking to it

BAM introduces advanced transaction sequencing methods designed to mitigate malicious MEV while improving overall block building efficiency.

As of late April 2026, the numbers held steady at roughly 118 million SOL across 344 validators. A slight dip from the quarter-end peak of 119.3 million SOL and 363 validators.

The buyback pause: betting on growth over token support

Jito reported Q1 2026 protocol revenue of $2.33 million, alongside $19.85 million in gross tips. Instead of channeling that revenue into token buybacks, the protocol is funneling it into a subsidy program for early BAM adopters.

This decision stems from JIP-31, a governance proposal that temporarily paused traditional buybacks from Q1 through Q3 2026.

APAC expansion and institutional play

On May 6, 2026, the Jito Foundation announced a partnership with Solana Company to deploy BAM-running validators across the Asia-Pacific region.

What this means for investors

The buyback pause is a double-edged sword for JTO token holders. In the short term, removing a consistent source of buy pressure isn’t great for price support. Jito is explicitly choosing long-term network growth over near-term token value.

Investors should watch two numbers closely over the next two quarters. First, whether BAM’s stake share continues climbing toward 40% or plateaus as easy adoption targets are exhausted. Second, whether gross tips, currently at $19.85 million for Q1, grow proportionally with stake share. If tips scale linearly with adoption, the revenue picture when buybacks resume could be substantially different from today’s $2.33 million quarterly figure. If tips plateau while adoption grows, it suggests BAM is capturing more of the network but not necessarily more economic value.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.