Midcurve Media

Engineering Solana - Brennan Watt & Lucas Bruder

Episode Summary

We're back with the third episode of Rightcurve! This time we sit down with Brennan Watt, VP of Core Engineering at Anza, and Lucas Bruder, co-founder and CEO of Jito Labs. Brennan shares insights on Anza's mission to build resilient and efficient infrastructure for Solana, the evolution of the validator client Agave, and the architectural changes behind Solana’s rapid performance gains. Lucas offers perspective from Jito’s vantage point on validator optimization, modularity, MEV, and how infrastructure decisions shape the user experience. Anza's 2025 Mission blog article: https://www.anza.xyz/blog/anzas-2025-mission-on-the-road-to-1m-tps Timestamps 00:00 - Intro 00:31 - Backgrounds 02:36 - Culture 03:15 - Evolution of Solana Core Development 07:09 - Improvements & Coordination 10:00 - Client Diversity 12:05 - Jito Labs Role 13:40 - Benefits of Multiple Clients 16:00 - Bottlenecks Over the Years 18:00 - Central Scheduler & Execution Efficiency 20:33 - Stake-Weighted QoS 28:55 - Incident Response 34:00 - Impact of Memecoin Mania 40:05 - Skip Rate & Slot Time Improvements 41:25 - Tangible UX Gains in Solana 42:10 - Roadmap for 2025 45:00 - Optimizing Memory and Turbine 51:45 - Protocol vs Tech Debt Improvements 54:20 - Research, Economics & Consensus Innovation 56:51 - Modular Validator Architecture 59:10 - Solana’s Architectural Tradeoffs 01:01:09 - MEV’s Role in Solana’s Future 01:03:40 - More Transparency 01:06:16 - IBRL 01:07:13 - Outro Stake with Jito: https://bit.ly/4asGYKK Follow on X: https://twitter.com/midcurvemedia Join the Community: https://discord.gg/jitocommunity __ Disclaimers: Nothing said on Midcurve is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Brian and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

Episode Notes

We're back with the third episode of Rightcurve! This time we sit down with Brennan Watt, VP of Core Engineering at Anza, and Lucas Bruder, co-founder and CEO of Jito Labs. Brennan shares insights on Anza's mission to build resilient and efficient infrastructure for Solana, the evolution of the validator client Agave, and the architectural changes behind Solana’s rapid performance gains. Lucas offers perspective from Jito’s vantage point on validator optimization, modularity, MEV, and how infrastructure decisions shape the user experience.  

 

Anza's 2025 Mission blog article: https://www.anza.xyz/blog/anzas-2025-mission-on-the-road-to-1m-tps

 

Timestamps

00:00 - Intro

00:31 - Backgrounds

02:36 - Culture

03:15 - Evolution of Solana Core Development

07:09 - Improvements & Coordination

10:00 - Client Diversity  

12:05 - Jito's Role

13:40 - Benefits of Multiple Clients

16:00 - Bottlenecks Over the Years

18:00 - Central Scheduler & Execution Efficiency

20:33 - Stake-Weighted QoS

28:55 - Incident Response

34:00 - Impact of Memecoin Mania  

40:05 - Skip Rate & Slot Time Improvements

41:25 - Tangible UX Gains in Solana

42:10 - Roadmap for 2025

45:00 - Optimizing Memory and Turbine

51:45 - Protocol vs Tech Debt Improvements

54:20 - Research, Economics & Consensus Innovation

56:51 - Modular Validator Architecture

59:10 - Solana’s Architectural Tradeoffs

01:01:09 - MEV’s Role in Solana’s Future

01:03:40 - More Transparency

01:06:16 - IBRL

01:07:13 - Outro

 

Stake with Jito: https://bit.ly/4asGYKK

Follow on X: https://twitter.com/midcurvemedia

Join the Community: https://discord.gg/jitocommunity

 

__

 

Disclaimers: Nothing said on Midcurve is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Brian and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.