Stake-Weighted QoS
Overview
Blink Labs’ SWQoS is a routing layer that gives your transactions privileged network paths via our partner validators who collectively control ~3% of active stake. By leveraging stake-weighted connections, we reduce the probability that your transactions are delayed or dropped under load, especially in latency-sensitive scenarios (e.g. trading, wallets).
In practice, SWQoS complements — but does not replace — priority fees. While tip/fee mechanisms affect ordering inside a block, stake-weighted routing gives you a higher-quality connection to the leader before your transaction even enters the leader’s queue.
How It Works
Client → RPC Your client submits the transaction to Blink Labs’ RPC endpoint. We look for MEV recovery opportunities.
RPC → Staked Validator Peer We forward the transaction through one of our partner validators, who maintain stake-weighted QUIC/TPU connections.
Validator → Leader The staked peer relays your transaction directly into the leader’s pipeline, increasing delivery reliability and reducing packet drop.
Leader → Processing Once inside, ordering and inclusion depend on priority fees, blockspace congestion, and execution success.
Why ~3% Stake Matters
Our validator partners collectively control ~3% of total active stake, giving Blink Labs meaningful capacity without overconcentration. This ensures:
Consistent throughput across multiple trusted operators.
Decentralization and resilience by avoiding reliance on a single node.
Practical scaling for many customers without prohibitive capital requirements
Usage Models
Blink Labs offers three flexible ways to access SWQoS, depending on your application and strategy:
Per-Transaction Tips
You specify a tip per transaction (via Jito or other channels).
Ideal for latency-sensitive use cases where you only need priority on select transactions (e.g. arbitrage trades).
Complete control: you decide when speed matters most.
Subscription Mode
Blink Labs dynamically applies the optimal priority fee for each transaction, balancing cost and landing speed.
Ideal for wallets or apps that want consistent low-latency delivery without fine-tuning fees per user action.
Automatic Inclusion with Higher-Than-Average Fees
Any transaction you send with a priority fee above the current network average is automatically routed through SWQoS.
Ensures that transactions already signaling urgency via fees also benefit from the fastest delivery path.
Useful for traders who already bake tipping strategies into their algorithms.
SWQoS vs. Priority Fees
The two mechanisms complement each other: routing gets you in quickly, fees keep you near the front.
SWQoS improves delivery reliability and latency into the leader’s pipeline.
Priority fees optimize ordering once your transaction is in the leader’s queue.
Considerations & Limitations
Load and saturation risk If many users saturate our stake-weighted routing capacity, there is risk of queuing or backpressure within our infrastructure. We monitor and scale capacity accordingly.
Not a guarantee of block inclusion Even via stake-weighted paths, your transaction might still fail or be dropped if it conflicts, has insufficient tip, or hits other resource limits.
Complementarity with priority fee design SWQoS is not a replacement for smart tipping. Users must still consider tip strategies, block congestion, and instruction size to maximize success.
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