The Solana Foundation is implementing a new policy that will gradually eliminate validators with low external participation. This change aims to increase the network’s decentralization and reduce reliance on foundation support, ultimately strengthening its autonomy. 3 long-term validators with less than 1,000 SOL in external stake per each newly added validator will be removed. This decision follows a gradual decrease of Foundation delegation since 2022, as experts seek to empower independent validators and improve network performance. Research shows that if the Foundation support abruptly stops, approximately 57% of Solana’s validators would become unprofitable.