New Solana Foundation Delegation Program Requirements: What They Mean for Choosing Validator Infrastructure

The Solana Foundation has introduced updated criteria for its Delegation Program, set to take effect on May 1, 2026.

While the update includes stricter performance and behavior standards, for many validators the more consequential long-term impact comes from new hard limits on stake concentration across ASNs and data centers.

To maintain eligibility under the updated criteria:

• Validators must operate on ASNs representing 25% or less of total network stake

• Validators must operate in data centers representing 15% or less of total network stake

While Solana has always emphasized decentralization, this marks the first time it is being enforced through explicit caps.

Validators running on ASNs or in data centers that exceed the defined concentration thresholds will need to migrate or risk becoming ineligible for Foundation delegation.

Even for those not affected immediately, the update makes it clear that concentration is now a liability to account for in infrastructure decisions. 

New limits on ASN concentration

An Autonomous System (AS) is a network run by a single organization, with its own way of routing internet traffic. Each of these networks is identified by an Autonomous System Number (ASN), which allows it to communicate with other networks on the internet.

When you run a server with an infrastructure provider, you’re operating within that provider’s ASN, as are other validators using the same provider.

If too many validator nodes are clustered within a single ASN, it creates centralization risk: too many nodes sharing common points of failure and too much stake tied to a single network in a system that’s intended to be distributed.

In the case of Solana, this risk isn’t hypothetical. In 2022, hosting provider Hetzner enforced policy restrictions that led to over 1,000 Solana validators going offline, leaving a significant share of stake delinquent.

Under the updated SFDP requirements, the Solana Foundation caps the total concentration of a single ASN at 25% of total network stake.

In practice, this means validators on over-concentrated ASNs will need to migrate or they may become ineligible for Foundation delegation. Those on popular but not yet oversaturated ASNs will need to monitor concentration levels closely and plan accordingly. 

New limits on data center concentration

To further reduce centralization risk, the Solana Foundation’s updated delegation requirements also introduce a 15% cap on stake concentration within a single data center. 

Like the ASN limit, the data center cap is intended to reduce shared points of failure and strengthen overall network resilience by limiting how many validator nodes run in a single facility.

This means validators operating in a data center that exceeds the 15% threshold may be at risk of losing eligibility for Foundation delegation, even if their ASN remains below the 25% cap.

How to check ASN and data center exposure

Monitoring platforms like Validators.app show how stake is distributed and make it easy to spot ASNs approaching the limits. While not exact, the aggregate stake estimates these platforms compile can provide a useful barometer of concentration risk.

If you’re not certain which ASN or data center your validator node is running on, you can map its IP address to the underlying ASN or facility using tools like ipinfo.io, bgp.he.net, or PeeringDB.

Where validators go from here

For validator operators, especially smaller ones on ASNs and in data centers over or approaching the cap, the updated requirements can feel like being pushed off safe providers and into less familiar options. 

The reaction is understandable, but it’s constructive to step back and think about how concentration came about in the first place. 

Providers that host a disproportionately large percentage of Solana validator stake earned their position in part through strong performance, but not on performance alone.

They also benefited from a follow-the-crowd dynamic. Once a few strong validators demonstrated consistent uptime and reliable performance on those providers, others followed and came to rely on them as the default choice.

In this new landscape, that approach is less viable. The Solana Foundation’s new criteria will reward those who can effectively vet providers and diversify their infrastructure without compromising on performance.

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