DoubleZero (@doublezero): A Validator’s Guide to DoubleZero Edge

A Validator’s Guide to DoubleZero Edge How validators can turn Solana leader shreds into revenue by giving traders an edge DoubleZero Edge is a platform for delivering market-data primitives at institutional speed — Solana Shreds is its first data feed. For traders, it means seeing what’s likely to land onchain before blocks are finalized. For validators, it means monetizing data they already produce. Edge in Finance In finance, an "edge" is a specific advantage that allows a market participant, such as a trader, to consistently win over time. This could be related to many factors, including speed, reliability, data quality, analytics, and execution. In practice, it often comes down to speed — seeing the gap between market price and fair value and closing a position before that gap is filled. Today’s financial infrastructure was built to deliver data at the fastest possible speed, and it’s a key competitive advantage. How this Translates to Solana Solana shreds are the raw packets that make up each block as it’s being created, each containing a fraction of transaction data. This raw data represents the earliest possible view of potential onchain activity, sent by the leader before transactions are finalized onchain or shown in downstream data feeds. Unlike many blockchains where data is only available after a block is complete, Solana’s leader sends shreds in realtime for its designated slot and processes transactions in parallel. For traders, low-latency access to leader shreds is a powerful edge. Faster access can be the difference between a winning or losing trade. Turbine and the Limits of Stake-Weighted Distribution Solana’s Turbine protocol is an efficient solution to propagate shreds to the large validator set on Solana. It works well for consensus, but for distribution to latency-sensitive participants it has some constraints. Turbine propagates shreds in a multi-layer tree, starting with the leader, followed by a root node, then fanning out to multiple validators at the next layer, who then distribute to the next layer, and so on. Every layer in the tree is another hop and adds latency, and validators closer to the root receive shreds faster. The structure is stake-weighted, meaning that validators with higher stake will sit closer to the root node. This design works well for network reliability and security, but it means validators further down the tree receive leader shreds later, and traders looking to gain an edge through fast access to leader shreds have limited options. Enter DoubleZero Edge DoubleZero Edge does not aim to replace Turbine, but rather introduce a parallel transport layer — one that provides faster access to leader shreds for traders and a new revenue stream for validators. Powered by multicast, the leader publishes shreds once to a DoubleZero multicast group, and the DoubleZero network handles geographically aware delivery to all subscribers. This means two things for validators: Validators can earn rewards for data they already produce by publishing leader shreds to the DoubleZero multicast group. Every publisher, proportional to number of leader slots, contributes to a more complete feed for subscribers. Traders are not reliant on any single validator’s stake or position in the Turbine tree, which means faster shred delivery than Turbine allows — especially when the leader and root node are further apart. A better feed means greater demand and more revenue for validators; Validators that are also subscribers, particularly high-stake validators already providing raw feeds to customers, can access a more complete set of leader shreds faster and use this to build and optimize services. Ultimately, for traders, this means faster access to shreds, whether through existing providers or DoubleZero directly. Note: Turbine is expected to be replaced by Rotor as part of the Alpenglow upgrade. Rotor’s architecture is compatible with DoubleZero Edge, supporting Solana’s future direction. Getting Access: Two Types of Users DoubleZero Edge has two types of users: Subscribers (trading firms receiving shreds) and Publishers (validators producing shreds). This guide focuses on the Publisher setup. Subscribers will soon be able to onboard permissionlessly to receive the data feed — more details will be shared in the coming weeks. If you operate a trading firm or business looking to subscribe to the feed please register interest here. The remainder of this guide is for validators who want to publish shreds and begin earning rewards. How to Start Publishing Shreds and Get Rewarded Full documentation is available at docs.malbeclabs.com. Prerequisites: Your validator must already be connected to DoubleZero. If not, complete Setup and Mainnet-Beta connection first. Jito-Agave (v3.1.9+): Add --shred-receiver-address 233.84.178.1:7733 to your validator start script. Restart your validator. Join the multicast group as a publisher: doublezero connect ibrl && doublezero connect multicast --publish bebop Frankendancer: Add the following to your config.toml: [tiles.shred] additional_shred_destinations_leader = [ "233.84.178.1:7733", ] Restart your validator. Join the multicast group as a publisher: doublezero connect ibrl && doublezero connect multicast --publish bebop Confirm your validator is publishing leader shreds Once connected, you can use the Publisher Check dashboard to confirm your validator is publishing leader shreds. You will not see confirmation until after you have published leader shreds for at least one slot. Set up an Associated Token Account (ATA) for 2Z Token Ensure there is a DoubleZero “2Z” token ATA linked to the validator identity. 2Z token address: J6pQQ3FAcJQeWPPGppWRb4nM8jU3wLyYbRrLh7feMfvd Validator Rewards For each epoch where validators publish leader shreds, they will be proportionately rewarded for their contribution. Rewards are automatically distributed to the ATA roughly 10 epochs later. Rewards are expected to increase as the number of paying subscribers for DoubleZero Edge increases after launch. Video Tutorial Watch on YouTube FAQ What are my fees to use DoubleZero on IBRL and/or multicast mode? Zero fees. You may also get paid for publishing leader shreds in multicast mode. Will publishing shreds degrade my validator performance? Publishing shreds via DoubleZero Edge is scoped to leader shred forwarding only — it does not affect your validator's core responsibilities like voting, block production, or Turbine propagation. The additional --shred-receiver-address flag sends a copy of your shreds to the DoubleZero multicast group alongside normal operation. Are there any implications to regular operation by enabling multicast? No, everything is designed to run properly. Can I run in both IBRL and multicast mode simultaneously? Yes. What happens if I miss an epoch or go offline? Rewards are based on shred contribution within a given epoch. If your validator goes offline or is unable to publish shreds during an epoch, you simply won't earn rewards for that period — there are no penalties to your validator's core operation from DoubleZero. Partial-epoch contributions will be prorated. How do I know my shreds are being published? Once connected, you can use the Publisher Check dashboard to confirm your validator is publishing leader shreds. You will not see confirmation until after you have published leader shreds for at least one slot. Further Reading Scaling Solana: From Turbine to Multicast — A deeper technical breakdown of unicast, multicast, and Turbine.