We Chewed a Lot of Glass" — Building on Solana in the Bear Market (Ft. Jito Labs CEO Lucas Bruder)

Why It Matters

Jetto’s infrastructure bolsters Solana’s scalability and cheap transaction environment, positioning the network as a viable hub for on‑chain finance and attracting capital during a prolonged crypto bear market.

Key Takeaways

• Jetto powers 80‑90% of Solana’s validator client ecosystem.
• Liquid staking and spam‑filtering boost Solana’s cheap transaction volume.
• Solana’s capacity expected to double by year‑end, driving growth.
• Jetto’s BAM product bridges validators and app developers for customization.
• Focused, lean team strategy helped Jetto thrive during bear market.

Summary

In this interview, Jito Labs CEO Lucas Bruder explains how his firm, Jetto, has become the largest liquid‑staking protocol on Solana and a de‑facto validator client provider, powering roughly 80‑90% of the network’s blocks. He frames Jetto’s mission as an economic growth engine for Solana, combining staking services with a custom validator client that filters transaction spam much like Cloudflare shields web traffic.

Bruder highlights several data points: Solana’s transaction fees are measured in pennies versus Ethereum’s $1,500‑plus spikes, and the chain now handles the highest DEX volume in crypto. Jetto’s new BAM product aims to give applications deeper control over block production, while the team’s focus on low‑level engineering and spam mitigation has helped keep block space cheap and abundant. The company’s lean 21‑person staff has stayed concentrated on Solana despite bear‑market temptations to jump to other ecosystems.

Memorable remarks pepper the conversation: “Bitcoin is a pet rock; Solana is doubling and continues to double capacity,” and the podcast’s title, “We chewed a lot of glass,” underscores the gritty persistence required to build infrastructure in a down market. Bruder also notes that Solana’s capacity is slated to increase by 50% this year and double again by year‑end, reinforcing its claim as “NASDAQ speed on a blockchain.”

The implications are clear: Jetto’s validator dominance and liquid‑staking liquidity provide a foundation for on‑chain finance, making Solana an increasingly attractive venue for developers and traders seeking ultra‑low fees and high throughput. By staying single‑chain and maintaining a tight, mission‑driven team, Jetto demonstrates how focused infrastructure can thrive even when broader crypto markets contract, potentially accelerating the shift of traditional financial services onto decentralized platforms.

Original Description

What if opening a trading account was as easy as downloading an app?

Lucas Bruder, CEO of Jito — a Solana-based liquid staking protocol — breaks down why he thinks all of finance is moving onchain, and what his small team is doing to make that happen.

During the 2022-2023 bear market, Jito was getting pitched constantly to jump ship to other chains. Lucas explains why they turned everything down, doubled down on Solana, and chewed a lot of glass.

We also cover how Jito acts like a Cloudflare for Solana, why cheap transactions create surprising problems, what convinced Lucas that the Solana engineers were in it for the right reasons, and his vision for a financial system anyone can access with just a phone.

Follow Jito: https://www.jito.network/

Follow Lucas: https://x.com/buffalu__

Highlights

0:00 — Intro

0:49 — What is Jito and why does it exist

1:11 — Why Solana transactions are less than a penny

2:00 — What attracted Lucas to Solana from Ethereum

2:39 — How Jito is like Cloudflare for blockchains

3:52 — Solana is the cheapest place to buy Solana

5:02 — The $1,500 Ethereum transaction fee problem

7:21 — The vision: all of finance onchain

7:46 — Onchain vs. opening a Robinhood account

8:37 — Lucas's journey from robotics to crypto

9:55 — Solana's rate of improvement and Anatoly's Law

10:44 — The pitch for people new to crypto

15:00 — Staying lean at 21 people

15:17 — Nicotine as a productivity hack

15:58 — Sleep, alcohol, and the Oura ring

16:40 — Smallest hill you'll die on: littering and shopping carts

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