<div id="readability-page-1"><div><div>Publicly-traded Solana treasury company Forward Industries launched its first institutional-grade validator node on the Solana blockchain as part of its broader strategy to deepen its role within the Solana ecosystem. The company announced the launch on Tuesday, saying that the validator runs on DoubleZero’s fiber network, which powers the validator and uses Jump Crypto’s Firedancer client, a new independent Solana validator client. Kyle Samani, chairman of the board of Forward Industries, said the move allows them to fortify Solana’s resiliency and help ensure that it remains “the standard for institutional adoption” in decentralized finance (DeFi). Forward Industries currently holds the largest Solana-based crypto treasury, valued at over $1.6 billion. The company is backed by crypto giants Galaxy Digital, Jump Crypto and Multicoin Capital, and plans to be more involved in the network’s ecosystem. <figure><div><img src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://s3.tradingview.com/news/image/cointelegraph:163b33b39094b-229697eb42ec2f6338674fbfc8dbc002-resized.jpeg?x-oss-process=image/auto-orient,1/interlace,1/resize,w_1440,h_1440/quality,q_95/format,jpg" width="1048" height="600" original-src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://s3.tradingview.com/news/image/cointelegraph:163b33b39094b-229697eb42ec2f6338674fbfc8dbc002-resized.jpeg"/></div></figure>Forward Industries joins Solana’s top 10 validatorsForward Industries’ validator launch immediately put the entity into the top 10 biggest validators by Solana tokens staked. Block explorer Solana Beach showed that all of Forward’s SOL holdings, about 6.8 million SOL tokens worth nearly $1.7 billion, were staked. As a result, it managed to surpass long-standing players like Staking Facilities and Coinbase, whose validators rank behind Forward with 6.7 billion and 6.2 billion tokens, respectively. According to Solana Beach, the largest Solana validators are Binance staking, Helius, Figment and Jupiter. All of these entities have more than 10 billion Solana tokens staked, ranking them the highest in terms of the number of tokens staked. <figure><div><img src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://s3.tradingview.com/news/image/cointelegraph:163b33b39094b-04fab3ea72e33b1eedb980d7456e3576-resized.jpeg?x-oss-process=image/auto-orient,1/interlace,1/resize,w_1440,h_1440/quality,q_95/format,jpg" width="893" height="600" original-src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://s3.tradingview.com/news/image/cointelegraph:163b33b39094b-04fab3ea72e33b1eedb980d7456e3576-resized.jpeg"/></div></figure>Forward launches validator with 0% commissionValidators are evaluated not only by the size of their stake but also by their commission rates. Commissions represent the percentage of staking rewards a validator keeps before distributing earnings to delegators. Forward’s 0% commission means that all rewards go directly to stakers, while higher commissions reduce their yield. By comparison, Binance Staking, the largest operator with 13.9 million SOL, charges delegators 1% commission, while staking providers Figment and Ledger by Figment charge 7%. Among the top 10 validators, the most expensive belongs to Coinbase, which charges 8%, reducing delegator returns the most among the top validators. However, 0% commission could often be a growth tactic rather than a permanent figure. Running a validator requires infrastructure costs, and companies may raise their commission rates once they secure enough stake. </div></div></div>

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Forward Industries has launched its first institutional-grade validator node on the Solana blockchain, enhancing its role in the ecosystem. The company holds the largest Solana treasury, valued at over $1.6 billion, and its validator is now among the top 10 by staked tokens, surpassing competitors like Coinbase. Forward's validator operates with a 0% commission, allowing all rewards to go to stakers, a strategy that may change as they grow. This move aims to fortify Solana's resiliency and promote institutional adoption in decentralized finance (DeFi).

Forward Industries launches Solana validator, $1.6B SOL staked