According to ChainCatcher, Solana Foundation Technical Vice President Jacob Creech responded to controversy over changes to the Solana Foundation Delegation Program (SFDP). The revisions set a 12-month participation limit, automatically graduate validators once they reach 300,000 SOL in stake, cap the program at 100 validators, and require participants to operate their own validator nodes.
Creech said the program was initially designed to help new validators get started, build a healthy testnet, and allow some validators to test network upgrades early. As the Solana ecosystem and validator community have matured, the foundation aims to shift to a more proactive and flexible delegation model focused on network health and ecosystem contributors. The SFDP will continue supporting new validators, while the foundation may delegate outside the program to validators making important contributions, including those who tested Frankendancer early.
Creech said reducing the number of validators is not the goal, though the count could fall if the foundation cannot find enough high-quality contributors. More than 100 validators have applied to continue receiving support, he said.