According to a Bitwise study, 72.8% of delegated SOL in the Solana network is staked with validators operating in Europe. North America ranks second with 16.2%, followed by Asia with 10.6% and South America with 0.4%. European operators hold more than four times the stake of the other three regions combined. The Bitwise Q4 2026 report was published on October 20; the distribution is based on data from Allium, Solana RPC, and Marinade.
The main operational centers are Amsterdam, Frankfurt, and London. However, the regional figures do not disclose how much stake is attributed to each city, hosting provider, or individual validator operator. The geographic data describes where validators operate, not where investors live or which jurisdiction controls the tokens: holders delegate SOL without transferring ownership rights.
Bitwise correlated the concentration with the reduction of the target slot time from 400 to 250 ms. Initially, the slot was reduced to 350 ms on August 21, then to 300 ms, and on September 18, it was set to 250 ms. At 400 ms, over 98% of votes from European, North American, and Asian validators arrived within one slot. At 250 ms, Europe showed 95.8%, North America 92.8%, Asia 70.7%, and South America 70.3%. The gap between Europe and Asia was 25.1 percentage points. Almost all votes still arrive within two slots, and the median skip rate decreased from 0.08% to 0.04%, so the impact on rewards is limited. Developers are targeting 200 ms.
The 72.8% share does not mean that this much of the network is directly subject to the European MiCA regulation: the list of European locations includes London, which is outside MiCA's jurisdiction. The location of the infrastructure itself does not determine whether the operator provides a regulated crypto asset service. According to ESMA guidance, companies combining staking with custodial storage must comply with MiCA requirements, but this does not mean that every validator in Europe automatically needs authorization. Bitwise and the Solana Foundation did not comment on the regulatory implications of this concentration.
A separate study on Solana's decentralization showed that 19 validators collectively exceed the 33% threshold, but it relied on older geographic data and is not suitable for direct comparison with the current distribution.
The figures emerged after an August network incident: 102 validators stopped voting due to a routing issue with the provider TeraSwitch. The network continued processing transactions, the affected validators recovered in about 40 minutes, and Marinade estimated the share of temporarily delinquent delegated SOL at 28.83%. The issue affected infrastructure in Amsterdam, London, Frankfurt, Singapore, and Tokyo.
According to Blockworks, Solana's network revenue in Q3 amounted to $75.7 million, with staker income around $495 million, of which $484.4 million came from new SOL issuances and $10.6 million from Jito tips. Bitwise reports that the quarter ended with approximately 69% of the supply staked and a gross staking yield of 5.99% compared to 6.38%. The number of validators decreased from 696 to 659, with the report attributing this to operational cost pressures.
This material is prepared solely for informational purposes and does not constitute financial advice or a recommendation.
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