Solana Proposal SIMD-0096 to Allocate Priority Fees to Validators

The Solana community has put forward SIMD-0096, a proposal to allocate the entire priority transaction fee to validators.

Previously, half of the reward was sent to a burn address, while the other half went to the block producer.

The initiative aims to enhance incentives for validators regarding the receipt of priority fees, thereby helping to ensure network security. SIMD-0096 also seeks to eliminate potential side deals between validators and transaction senders.

“SIMD-0096 ensures that validators remain focused on prioritizing network security and efficiency, rather than engaging in potentially harmful side deals,” the proposal states.

Priority fees are a means to guarantee faster transaction execution by placing it at the top of the mempool for an additional charge.

SIMD-0096 stops the burning of part of the profits from such operations but retains it for regular transactions. The update’s implementation on Solana’s mainnet is expected to take several months.

According to a dashboard on Dune, 58% of validators and 51% of stakers voted on the proposal. Of these, 39% supported the initiative, 11% opposed it, and 2% abstained.

Previously, CoinGecko analysts recognized Solana as the fastest among major blockchains. On April 6, the average daily transaction count per second reached a record high of 1504 amid a meme token boom.

In April, developers updated the software as part of efforts to combat blockchain congestion, which leads to transaction delays.