Concepts

elSOL is developed to redesign how stake is used on the Solana network and to make previously latent functions of stake usable.

While stake contributes to security, its amount also affects the priority of traffic paths. However, users holding stake have been unable to control their own bandwidth or directly influence their communication performance. The value of stake has been mainly limited to staking rewards and has not been leveraged for network performance.

elSOL addresses this asymmetry. Instead of treating stake as a static asset for rewards only, elSOL introduces a mechanism that treats stake as a dynamic resource for adjusting communication efficiency.

When users stake SOL as elSOL, their stake links to Solana’s SWQoS (Stake-weighted Quality of Service) and can be applied to obtain bandwidth on the network or lent out to others.

This allows users to earn additional incentives by handling bandwidth as a network asset in addition to conventional staking rewards. The latent value of stake is unlocked, and those who need bandwidth can obtain it in the amounts they need.