从幕后到台前，Jito的JTX能否重新定义链上交易？

Original | Odaily Planet Daily (@OdailyChina)

Author｜jk

Making a professional trade on Solana often requires having eight tabs open at the same time.

Charts on Birdeye, order execution on Jupiter, position management on Drift, yield strategies on another protocol, prediction markets elsewhere, and logging into different websites eight times for your wallet. Each tool does its job, but nothing ties them together. The bigger problem is that even after piecing all this together, the execution quality still lags behind centralized exchanges.

On-chain traders have long faced a dilemma: either tolerate inferior tools, or entrust your assets to someone else.

The reason this problem hasn't been solved for so long is actually quite simple: Those capable of solving it have been busy doing other things.

Solana, JTO, and JTX

Four years ago, when Jito was still a startup with fewer than ten people, it chose the path least visible to others: diving deep into Solana's底层, focusing on building infrastructure that ordinary users would never directly interact with.

For those unfamiliar with Solana, you might ask, what is Jito?

Simply put, it's the "behind-the-scenes engine manufacturer" for the Solana blockchain. In the crypto world, every on-chain transaction goes through a complex process of ordering, bidding, and confirmation before being packaged into a block. What Jito does is provide the core components of this mechanism.

Analogy: Think of Solana as a highway. Jito is the company responsible for designing and operating the toll booths, ramp control systems, and road sensors. Drivers (users and traders) don't usually notice its presence, but without it, the traffic efficiency of the entire road would be severely compromised.

Specifically, Jito currently has three core products. The Block Engine handles most of the transaction ordering and MEV distribution on-chain, acting as the "dispatch center" before transactions enter a block; JitoSOL is a token that allows holders to stake SOL while maintaining liquidity, with a market cap currently exceeding $800 million; BAM (Block Assembly Mechanism) is the next-generation block assembly architecture, with nearly half of Solana validators already running this client, accounting for over 31% of staked network weight.

Jito Q1 performance.

Today, Jito stands as one of the most important and foundational infrastructure providers in the entire Solana ecosystem.

In May 2026, Jito announced a major development at the Solana Accelerate conference in Miami: launching a trading product for end-users called JTX, expected to officially go live this July.

So, what is JTX?

It is a self-custodial, professional-grade on-chain trading platform. Users don't need to transfer assets to any centralized institution. While maintaining full control over their assets, they can enjoy a trading experience close to that of a centralized exchange (CEX). Chart analysis, multiple professional order types, spot trading, and planned future features like perpetual contracts and prediction markets are all integrated into a single interface. Its target users are advanced traders who find basic Swap interfaces insufficient but are unwilling to entrust their assets to centralized exchanges.

Why would a company deeply focused on backend work step into the spotlight? Why a trading product? With these questions, the Odaily team contacted Marc Liew, Jito Foundation's head of the Asia-Pacific region, to discuss Jito's next steps.

"We're Not Pivoting; We Just Built Something That Felt Natural"

When news about JTX broke, the immediate reaction from outsiders was: Jito is "pivoting."

Marc Liew, Jito Foundation's APAC lead, disagrees with this characterization. "It's more of a natural extension than a pivot," he said. "Jito spent four years building out the underlying infrastructure that the Solana economy relies on – the Block Engine, JitoSOL, BAM. This work gave us a profound understanding of what exactly happens to a transaction from intent to settlement."

However, he believes this understanding was never passed on to the end-user.

"At some point, you start asking: why isn't anyone telling users this?" Marc said. "Teams building trading products on Solana don't have this depth of execution-layer knowledge. And teams like Jito, who have this accumulated knowledge, never really built a trading product. JTX sits at this intersection. We are directly extending the infrastructure to the person it was always meant to reach."

Understanding this logic requires first understanding what Jito's core competency truly is. Its value isn't just about "having built infrastructure," but more about the first-hand knowledge gained during this process regarding on-chain transaction mechanisms: under what circumstances do transactions fail, how do priority fees affect queue order, how is MEV extracted during block production.

Jito's Block Engine is the core node handling this on-chain system, giving it a depth of understanding of on-chain trading rules that other teams find hard to replicate. This knowledge is incredibly valuable for a product team aiming to build a high-quality trading experience.

"JTX is the attempt to productize this knowledge." Marc told Odaily.

"Solana's Infrastructure Is Good Enough; The Problem Is at the Application Layer"

Discussing the starting point for JTX, Marc's assessment was quite direct: "Solana's infrastructure is the best in the world. It handles more daily transaction volume than all other public chains combined, and it has been stress-tested under real conditions in a way other chains haven't faced. The bottleneck for adoption isn't the chain itself, but what's built on top of it."

Jito's motivation for building JTX is based on this judgment: Solana is already fast enough, but the application layer built on it doesn't yet match the capabilities of the chain itself.

The gap between on-chain and off-chain trading experiences is a problem often discussed within the industry, yet one that hasn't been systematically solved. For truly active traders, this gap is especially noticeable. "Professional traders on Solana currently have to piece together five or six, sometimes eight different applications just to complete what should be a single workflow," Marc described. "Charting in one place, executing spot trades in another, portfolio management somewhere else, yield strategies on a different protocol, perpetuals and prediction markets possibly on yet another chain. And even after stitching all this together, execution quality doesn't compare to a CEX. So they face a choice: either give up self-custody for a better experience, or keep their assets but settle for inferior tools."

This dilemma is the exact problem JTX aims to solve.

Terminal, Aggregator, Broker – None Are the Labels It Wants

JTX's positioning is hard to simply categorize within the existing discourse of the industry.

Marc politely declined several common labels. "The term 'terminal' has been taken over by a certain layer of product in crypto. What we're building isn't at that layer. 'Aggregator' implies we're just routing orders to someone else's infrastructure. 'Broker' implies there's an intermediary between you and your assets. None of these are accurate."

The internal definition he offers is: JTX is a trading engine. "It's a professional workspace where serious traders execute trades, manage positions, and deploy capital. We aggregate all the best tools and overlay them with a layer of infrastructure knowledge that's hard to match on any other chain."

From a product perspective, JTX will launch with spot trading (including RWA assets), gradually adding perpetual contracts (via partnership with Phoenix) and prediction markets (via a Solana-native protocol under development). Charting tools, order execution, portfolio management, and capital efficiency functions are all completed within a single account and interface.

The advantage of self-custody needs no further explanation: on traditional centralized exchanges, assets deposited by users are effectively under the platform's control. The collapse of FTX is the most extreme example of this model's risk. Users' assets exist on paper but are actually misappropriated. JTX's self-custody model means assets always remain in the user's own wallet. JTX is just an interface for executing trades; the platform itself has no control over user funds.

Regarding tools like Jupiter, Birdeye, Axiom, Photon, Drift, Phoenix that have been deeply embedded in Solana for years, Marc's stance is that JTX should be seen as the interface that brings them together, not their competitor. "It lets traders access the best of the Solana ecosystem in one place, with institutional-grade execution quality."

The phrase "integration, not competition" sounds safe. But looking at Jito's history of deep collaboration with Solana ecosystem partners, this might just be its consistent modus operandi: build the foundation well, let others run on top, and when the time is right, step in and take over the interface layer as well.

Execution Quality Is Jito's True Moat

Amidst all the narratives surrounding JTX, "execution quality" is the most frequently mentioned term.

Behind this is Jito's four years of practical accumulation. "Every team serious about building on Solana, at some point, comes to Jito to understand exactly how transactions work, how they land on-chain, where they fail, what determines success or failure," Marc said. "We spent four years studying every case study in Solana's transaction pipeline. We've baked this knowledge directly into JTX's product design."

This manifests in addressing several specific trading pain points:

• Front-running is one of the most annoying problems on-chain. Since all pending transactions are publicly visible before being packaged into a block, bots capable of "cutting in line" can see your buy order, buy at a higher priority fee before you, and sell to you once your order goes through at a higher price. BAM's next-generation block assembly architecture allows transactions to remain private before execution, structurally severing this attack vector.
• Failed transactions increase significantly during Solana network congestion, and failures still incur fees, leaving traders with the predicament of "paying fees but getting nothing." JTX aims for "either execute at the price you see, or don't execute," fundamentally solving this silent failure issue.
• Priority fees. During Solana peak times, traders often need to pay higher priority fees to get their transactions packaged first. Setting the right fee, when and how much, involves a game-theoretic logic that requires deep experiential knowledge. Jito's understanding of how Solana handles transactions under pressure directly translates into JTX's execution quality management mechanisms.

Regarding CEX-level advanced order types, including limit orders, TWAP, stop-limit/take-profit, OCO, etc., Marc stated that JTX will offer some at launch, with the rest rolling out subsequently. He gave a candid explanation of the technical challenges of implementing these on-chain: "The challenge of implementing these order types on-chain is that they require a level of execution reliability that most platforms can't provide, because those platforms are built on top of infrastructure they don't deeply understand. Our team built the execution infrastructure that Solana runs on. This means when we design a stop-limit or OCO order, we're not praying the network cooperates. We know exactly how these orders interact with the transaction pipeline and designed the system architecture accordingly."

Comparison with Hyperliquid: Respect, But a Different Approach

JTX almost inevitably invites comparison with Hyperliquid. The latter, with its own L1, has generated over $600 million in annualized fees, proving significant market demand for a professional on-chain trading experience.

Marc offered sincere praise for Hyperliquid: "I have a lot of respect for what they've built. They proved there is massive demand for a professional on-chain trading experience – on their own L1, without any of Solana's infrastructure advantages, generating over $600 million in annualized fees."

He believes JTX differentiates itself on two dimensions: first, Jito's deep engineering expertise and the overall support of the Solana ecosystem; second, a slightly different product positioning. JTX aims to be the application where a trader "can access any asset class," covering prediction markets, crypto assets, and the growing trend of RWA (Real World Assets).

From this perspective, JTX represents a vertical integration of financial instruments across the entire Solana ecosystem. Compared to Hyperliquid's "one chain, one tool" philosophy, JTX will likely be more comprehensive in functionality. But whether its trading design and experience can surpass Hyperliquid awaits the product's official release.

"Many financial applications are evolving into multi-asset-class platforms. In that dimension, JTX indeed has competitors. But we believe Jito's deep engineering expertise and the overall weight of the Solana ecosystem are our true differentiators."

The Crucial Question for Retail: What Do JTO Holders Get?

For unfamiliar readers, JTO is the governance token of the Jito ecosystem. Holders' rights aren't limited to voting; they also receive actual economic returns through protocol revenue distribution. A portion of the staking rewards from JitoSOL and the MEV revenue from the Block Engine are funneled back to JTO holders. This is the basic logic of Jito's tokenomics.

The launch of JTX adds a new direct revenue pipeline from the consumer end to this system. Following the news about JTX, JTO surged 45%.

The revenue distribution structure is quite clear. 80% of JTX's protocol revenue flows to the Jito Protocol, ultimately benefiting JTO holders. The remaining 20% is reinvested into the product for continued growth and development.

Marc likened this model to the existing mechanisms of JitoSOL and the Jito network: "This continues the same model already running with JitoSOL and across the Jito network – fees generated at the protocol level accrue to JTO. JTX plugs into the Jito economic framework; it's not a standalone product operating independently. Every transaction occurring on JTX directly contributes to the ecosystem."

Marc also outlined the key metrics he believes JTO holders should watch most closely: JTX's trading volume is the top of the revenue funnel; user retention determines revenue sustainability; expansion of asset types and market types means broadening the revenue base. "Spot first, then perpetuals and prediction markets on the roadmap. Each new market type represents a new revenue surface. JTO holders should view JTX the same way they view JitoSOL or BAM – as another pillar at the market layer, generating real economic activity and channeling its value back to the token."

In Three Years, the Distinction Between CEX and DEX Might Not Matter

Discussing the trajectory of on-chain trading over the next three years, Marc proposed a thought-provoking framework:

"The phrase 'becoming more like a CEX' is actually the wrong perspective. What's really happening is that the best elements of centralized trading – speed, professional tools, execution quality – are being reconstructed on a foundation that centralized exchanges can never achieve, namely self-custody, transparency, and composability."

In his estimation, three years from now, the distinction between "CEX" and "DEX" will become meaningless for most traders. "They just want the best execution, the best tools, and full control over their assets. The product that makes the combination of these three feel effortless will win. We believe the future of professional trading lives on-chain, lives on Solana, and JTX is our bet on this vision."

From a milestone perspective, Marc outlined several key items to track over the next 12 months: JTX's official launch in July, supporting spot trading, professional order types, and self-custody; followed by expansion into perpetual contracts and prediction markets, making JTX potentially one of the most feature-rich on-chain trading venues. On the infrastructure side, the adoption of BAM continues to accelerate, alongside institutional developments like the 21Shares JitoSOL ETP and the partnership with Korea's KODA.

Conclusion

From its announcement at Solana Accelerate to its official launch in July, followed by expansion into perpetuals and prediction markets, JTX's timeline is clear and aggressive. Whether it can carve out its own place in the competitive landscape formed by Jupiter, Drift, Phoenix, and Hyperliquid ultimately depends on one thing: Can Jito's four years of accumulated infrastructure knowledge truly translate into a perceived difference in execution quality for ordinary traders?

If the answer is yes, this will be a rare instance in the crypto industry of a complete vertical product integration from the bottom layer to the front end. If not, it will still be a worthwhile attempt, documenting what happens when an infrastructure company steps onto the front stage.

The answer will be revealed this July.