Solana Validator Count Down 68% in Three Years, Small Nodes Priced Out

BlockBeats News, January 29th. According to Cointelegraph, data shows that the number of validation nodes on the Solana network has dropped significantly from a high of 2560 in March 2023 to the current 795, a 68% decrease, raising concerns in the market about the network's level of decentralization.

Industry insiders point out that, in addition to clearing out "zombie nodes," the core reason lies in the continuously rising operating costs and the zero-fee competition among large nodes, which is systematically squeezing out small and medium validators. An independent validation node operator stated that many small nodes are not bearish on Solana but rather find the economic model unsustainable: "Without economic viability, decentralization becomes a charitable act."

At the same time, Solana's Nakamoto Coefficient has dropped from 31 to 20, a decrease of about 35%, indicating that the control of staked SOL is tilting towards a few large nodes, reducing the network's decentralization. In terms of costs:

Just to maintain operations (excluding hardware and servers), a node needs a minimum of $49,000 equivalent in SOL in the first year;
Approximately 401 SOL is required annually to pay for voting fees;
The daily voting transaction cost can be as high as 1.1 SOL/day.

The trend signal is clear: Solana is gradually evolving from a "broadly participatory node structure" to a structure dominated by large institutional nodes, which may have a profound long-term impact on the network's security structure and governance framework.