What does $SOL mean? Is even Sol going to fail?! What hope is left for the copycats?

The number of Solana validator nodes has plummeted by 68% from 2,560 in March 2023 to 795 now.

On January 29, according to data from Solanacompass, the number of validator nodes on the Solana blockchain has decreased from a peak of 2,560 to the current 795, a drop of 68%. This trend has raised concerns about the network's decentralization, as rising operational costs and zero-fee competition make it difficult for small node operators to sustain.

Independent validator operator Moo stated on X platform that many small validators are considering shutting down their nodes, not because they have lost confidence in Solana, but due to economic difficulties. Moo pointed out that large validators charging 0% fees make it unprofitable for small validators, turning decentralization into a "charitable act."

Additionally, Solana's decentralization metric, the Nakamoto Coefficient, has decreased from 31 in March 2023 to 20, a 35% decline. This metric measures the degree of blockchain decentralization; the decrease indicates that the distribution of staked supply on Solana has become more concentrated, reducing the network's decentralization.

Rising operational costs may be the main reason for the reduction in validator nodes. According to the technical documentation of Solana validator node provider Agave, besides hardware and server costs, validators need to hold at least 401 SOL annually to pay for voting fees, with an initial investment of about 49,000 USD worth of SOL tokens to maintain operations. The Solana Foundation has not yet commented on this.