Block Zero: The Annual Solana Validator Summit

For most of the year, Solana’s validators live behind dashboards, terminals, and monitoring bots - quietly sustaining one of the fastest blockchains on earth.
Once a year, that changes. Block Zero brings the validator community together in person to exchange insights, compare performance data, and debate the questions that shape Solana’s future.
Fun fact: the event is organized entirely by a group of independent validators.

"The backbone of the Solana network is its’ validator set. Everything built on top of Solana utilizes the infrastructure provided by numerous different entities running those nodes. Block Zero is by validators, for validators - it adds a social layer to this deeply technical and highly critical part of the Solana ecosystem. A place to meet IRL. An event to stir and inspire discussions, knowledge transfer, as well as collaboration. A community initiative to propel the entire Solana ecosystem forward. From the base layer. One block at a time."

notes one of the organizers, Matthias from Staking Facilities.

Now in its third edition, Block Zero 2025 will gather operators, developers, and ecosystem contributors from across the world in Abu Dhabi to explore four essential themes: performance, governance, sustainability, and decentralization.

If you’re part of the Solana story, running a validator, building infrastructure, or simply obsessed with how decentralization scales, this is your room. Join us in Abu Dhabi. You can see the full agenda here. And request your spot via the Luma page.

History: From Discord Handles to Real-World Collaboration

"For years, more than a thousand Solana validators around the world only knew each other through Discord. Block Zero changed that, it became the first and only place where the people securing the network could meet face-to-face, trade hard-won lessons, and strengthen the decentralization that makes Solana resilient."

says Brian S, from Jito Foundation, also one of the organizers.

Block Zero began as a grassroots idea — a simple wish to turn online collaboration into real-world connection. What started as a few independent operators wanting to meet and exchange ideas in person quickly became the seed for something bigger.

Three years ago, my Breakpoint talk submission was to hold an IRL Validator Roundtable. The organizers' response was rude—they ghosted me! Undaunted, a group of validators organized an ad hoc happy hour for validators at a local Lisbon hotel. We packed the bar, and from these humble roots, Block Zero was formed.

Since then, the event has become one of the best days at Breakpoint, according to many attendees. All the talks & panels feature operators working in the trenches every day to keep Solana running. We don't allow sales pitches on stage, so every talk is engaging & informative.

It's pretty amazing to see what a group of degens can do when they work together!

shares Brian L. from Block Logic, one of the original organizers behind Block Zero.

The first edition took place in 2023 in Amsterdam, alongside Solana’s flagship event, Breakpoint. From the start, it focused on roundtables, discussions, workshops, and talks about decentralization, governance, staking, and delegation.

By 2024, Block Zero had grown into a renowned Solana validator summit, attracting more than 500 participants worldwide. Hosted in Singapore, the validator summit expanded its scope to include panels on economics and regulation alongside core staking topics.

It became clear that event had filled a missing piece in the Solana ecosystem: a forum built by validators, for validators, a place where infrastructure finally has its own stage.

"Each year, Block Zero reminds us that running infrastructure is only part of the job. What keeps Solana strong is the dialogue between the people behind the machines - open, honest, and focused on the health and the integrity of the network"

shares Chris from Chainflow, another organizer of the event.

Now, in 2025, the event stands as the validator community’s annual checkpoint, where transparency, performance, and ethics are discussed with the same rigor as technology.

Why Block Zero Matters

The lifeblood of Solana is its validators. Block Zero was born out of a community collaboration and continues as such to this day. We're super excited to be supporting the 2025 iteration and to support the engine powering Solana.

says Michael, from SOL Strategies.

Running a validator is technical work; sustaining a decentralized network is social work.
Block Zero bridges those two realities. It’s where independent operators find peers, exchange ideas, and collectively raise the standards that define Solana’s resilience.

Beyond the sessions, what makes Block Zero special is the hallway track — the spontaneous conversations where operators troubleshoot each other’s setups, share scripts, and debate the trade-offs of stake delegation models.
In an industry that often celebrates speculation, Block Zero re-centers the focus on infrastructure, integrity, and shared responsibility.

An insightful take from Eden, from Double Zero about the event:

"Block Zero is one of those events you look forward to every year. It's the kind of event where you know the room will be filled with some of the sharpest minds in blockchain. Validators are truly the heartbeat of Solana, the ones keeping the network alive and pushing it forward. This event is for them. It brings together decentralized thinkers from around the world to tackle the hardest problems and imagine what comes next. It’s where true builders meet to break boundaries and shape the future of Solana, collectively."

Sponsors & Supporters

Here is what Tim Garcia, Validator Relations Lead at Solana Foundation has to say about the event:

Block Zero is my favorite event of the year. It’s a unique gathering space for validators, RPC operators, and infrastructure providers that simply did not exist before the community came together to create it. Every year I walk away having learned something new. The quality of the content and conversations is consistently exceptional.

Block Zero 2025 is made possible by the sponsors:

Anza
A Solana-focused software development firm crafting resilient, elegant Web3 protocols for builders.

Asymmetric Research
A data-driven research and validation collective focused on Solana

Block Logic
Operates high-performance Solana validators and develops Validators.app, a community analytics and transparency platform.

Chainflow
A fully self-funded, value-driven Solana validator operator building foundational infrastructure for decentralisation.

DoubleZero
A high-performance network infrastructure startup constructing a new low-latency “internet layer”.

Firedancer
An independent validator client developed by JumpCrypto for Solana, aiming to rewrite core components for maximum performance.

Helius
Provides powerful developer infrastructure and advanced tools that make building on-chain applications faster and more reliable.

Jito Foundation
A MEV infrastructure and liquid staking protocol on Solana whose Jito-Sol client boosts validator rewards while improving network efficiency.

Overclock
A Solana validator and community‐driven operator launched in 2022, combining deep infrastructure experience with ecosystem contribution.

Marinade
A liquid staking protocol on Solana that enables users to stake SOL and maintain liquidity while contributing to security and validator diversification.

SOL Strategies
A publicly traded Canadian company that combines a Solana treasury with enterprise-grade validator services.

Staking Facilities
An independent validator operator noted within Solana’s community for its infrastructure, reliability and contributions to network decentralisation.

In conclusion

Three years in, Block Zero has evolved from an informal meetup into a cornerstone of Solana’s validator culture - a rare space where openness and technical excellence coexist.
As the network grows, so does the importance of gatherings like this: places where decentralization isn’t just discussed, but practiced.