Raiku Unveils ‘$rkuSOL’ as 1st Liquid Staking Token of Solana with Revenue from Blockspace Auction

Raiku, a reservation model for the renowned Solana blockspace, has announced the launch of $rkuSOL. $rkuSOL is launching as the earliest liquid staking token of Solana. As Raiku revealed in its official press release, it is launching $rkuSOL in partnership with Exponent, Loopscale, Sanctum, and Kamino. The new project benefits validators with a unique revenue stream beyond conventional staking yields.

Raiku’s First Solana Liquid Staking Token ‘$rkuSOL’ Boosts Validator Revenue with JIT and AOT Auctions

Raiku’s $rkuSOL is going live in partnership with Exponent, Loopscale, Sanctum, and Kamino, letting validators generate extra revenue by selling blockspace. In this respect, the validators can sell blockspace via the Just-in-Time (JIT) and Ahead-of-Time (AOT) auctions of Raiku. Particularly, the project emerges as a groundbreaking innovation within the DeFi sector with the merger of auction-based blockspace earnings and staking rewards.

Hence, the initiative underscores Raiku’s crucial step toward institutional-level adoption of the cutting-edge infrastructure of Solana. Specifically, 6 external validators have already expressed commitment to $rkuSOL’s mainnet launch. The token lets consumers deposit their $SOL holdings with the validators integrated with Raiku. As a result, they can get the $rkuSOL token at the existing exchange rate. The token does not have any supply cap, operating as a receipt in return for the deposited $SOL holdings.

Commencing New Epoch for Solana Staking and Expanding Institutional Adoption

Apart from that, the exchange rate will be modified over time alongside the yield accrual. Both the core stake pool and the exchange LST contracts of $SOL will remain untouched, Solana primitives, guaranteeing security via diverse audits. Additionally, $rkuSOL-backing validators will sell compute capacity through the auctions of Raiku. Revenue coming from the respective auctions is poised to support stakers proportionally, increasing returns beyond traditional staking.

According to Sanctum’s CEO, FP Lee, with $rkuSOL “holders automatically earn autocompounding yields and can access instant liquidity via Sanctum.” Additionally, Loopscale’s CEO, Luke Truitt, asserted that “the validators behind rkuSOL earn additional yield through blockspace sold in Raiku’s auctions, giving loopers an opportunity to speculate on demand in excess of the native staking rate.”

In the same vein, Mark Hull, Kamino’s core contributor, mentioned that “rkuSOL introduces additional validator revenue through Raiku’s blockspace auctions, bringing a unique LST to the ecosystem.” Moreover, Thomas Lefort, the co-founder of Exponent, disclosed that “this makes rkuSOL a strong asset to add to a DeFi portfolio, while holders can use Exponent to tailor their exposure depending on their goals.”