Jito Foundation returns to the United States as Solana infrastructure faces scrutiny

TL;DR

• Jito Foundation relocates headquarters to the U.S., citing clearer regulations.
• The move aims to rebuild trust and expand institutional Solana access.
• Jito promotes its JitoSOL staking token and neutral block-building services.

The Jito Foundation, a major validator tied to Solana, announced a return of headquarters operations to the United States after years offshore. The organization says clearer rules and wider crypto adoption in the country drive the decision. Jito also says the foundation rebuilds as a U.S.-based legal entity, a step aimed at restoring trust and expanding mainstream access around Solana products.

Jito links earlier offshore posture to regulatory uncertainty and limited access to banking partners. Many U.S. counterparties avoided direct crypto exposure during recent years, and the FTX collapse deepened skepticism toward Solana-linked projects during the 2022–2023 downturn. 

Jito also kept U.S. users at arm’s length in prior cycles. The JTO airdrop in late 2023 excluded wallets based in the United States, a choice that signaled caution around compliance and distribution risk.

After over a year of in-the-trenches policy work from Jito and a decade of lobbying and education from industry allies, we are bringing core Jito Foundation operations back to the U.S. 🇺🇸

Jito is coming home, and we’re throwing a party to celebrate. pic.twitter.com/60kOHbSftT

— buffalu (@buffalu__) December 17, 2025

Now, Jito plans a formal return event on January 8 in Washington, D.C. The gathering marks the start of a U.S. relaunch and a reset in relationship-building with policy, industry, and institutional audiences.

Markets digest the announcement alongside weak token pricing. JTO trades near $0.34, close to an all-time low. SOL trades near $123.54 after a pullback. Traders also attach “Made in USA” branding to both assets, even as reputational damage from the bear market era still lingers like a long shadow.

JitoSOL, block building, and a legal backdrop around order flow

Jito pushes adoption of the Jito Network product set, including the liquid staking token JitoSOL. The protocol ranks as the fourth-largest on Solana by total value locked, with about $1.85 billion in TVL. Jito also promotes “fair inclusion” blocks and backs BAM, a platform built around neutral block construction.

Jito previously served as a source of pending Solana transactions, one of the closest substitutes Solana had for a public mempool. The foundation later stopped sharing the pool with third parties and aimed to reduce sandwich attacks. Over time, Jito built a reputation for safer block-building practices on Solana, even as adversarial trading tactics continued across decentralized venues.

The return to the United States arrives during an ongoing class action lawsuit involving Solana and Pump.fun. Public discussion has tied Jito to tools used for front-running and token sniping before launches reach broad awareness.

Jito rejects an active role in those tactics and frames its contribution as standard block-building services. Jito also tracked and logged front-running activity, while extraction from DEX trading still persists.

Jito’s revenue model relies heavily on tips linked to priority execution. A small set of validators uses Jito’s services to accelerate transaction inclusion, which keeps Jito close to Solana’s high-throughput routing layer.

Attention around staking also grows. Market participants discuss a potential staking ETF tied to SOL, and some digital-asset treasury firms already stake SOL through selected validators. Demand for dependable validator infrastructure rises under that pattern, and Jito positions its staking and block-building stack as a core conduit for throughput and execution.