Sanctum Claims #1 TVL on Solana With 18 Million SOL Staked, Surpassing Jupiter

Sanctum CLOUD$0.043+5.3% announced August 28 that it holds more total value locked than any other protocol on Solana, with approximately 18 million SOL now staked through its liquid staking infrastructure. DeFiLlama data puts Sanctum's TVL at roughly $1.93 billion as of the announcement, up 52.1% over the trailing 30 days, placing it above Jupiter JUP$0.239-2.1% and every other on-chain protocol on the network.

The milestone was announced by @sanctumso at 10:33 UTC. Earlier that morning, Sanctum's James Hanley posted: "Today, @sanctumso took #1 TVL on Solana. At the same time, Solana is doing more than double the daily transactions of all other networks combined."

How Sanctum Compounded to 18 Million SOL

Sanctum operates as foundational infrastructure rather than a single staking product. Its Infinity pool, represented by the INF token, aggregates liquidity across hundreds of validator-specific liquid staking tokens, enabling zero-slippage swaps between them. Validators, institutions, and consumer apps launch branded LSTs through the shared pool without building standalone liquidity. As of August 28, the INF token has 42,128 holders across Solana wallets, per Solana Compass data.

The growth has been consistent and accelerated into August. Sanctum held 15.44 million SOL in TVL at the end of Q1 2026. By Q2's reported peak, that had reached 16.64 million SOL, an 8.2% quarterly increase, according to Crypto Briefing. The move from that Q2 peak to 18 million SOL reflects continued staking inflows through the summer. Sanctum now holds 2.72% of circulating SOL, up from 2.02% a year earlier per the same report.

The LST Landscape Shift Behind Sanctum's Rise

Jupiter's top TVL position had historically rested on its status as Solana's dominant swap aggregator, with capital concentrated across its perpetuals, spot aggregation, and lending products. Sanctum's ascent reflects a different kind of capital formation: SOL being staked for yield rather than deployed into trading infrastructure.

That reallocation is visible in LST supply data. As Jito's Q2 2026 results showed, JitoSOL supply fell 20% to 9.86 million SOL through Q2 2026, with Jito's LST market share dropping to 17.3%. Sanctum's infrastructure holds JupSOL, Bybit's bbSOL, and dozens of validator-branded LSTs in addition to the core Infinity pool, capturing staked SOL across the LST spectrum rather than competing on a single validator brand.

The timing aligns with a pattern Crypto Briefing noted in July 2026: Sanctum led Solana protocols in TVL growth even during the broader bear market, posting 10% growth at a point when most protocols were contracting. DeFiLlama's 52.1% 30-day growth rate reflects further acceleration into August.

Revenue, Gateway, and the Sanctum App

TVL and protocol revenue have not tracked each other at Sanctum. Q2 2026 revenue came in at $880,000, down 39.7% quarter-over-quarter per Crypto Briefing, even as the SOL count climbed. The compression reflects the economics of staking infrastructure: as LST creation and onboarding matures, per-unit fees decline even when aggregate stake grows.

Sanctum's revenue model extends beyond the Infinity pool. Sanctum Gateway, the protocol's transaction delivery and optimization layer for Solana, adds a commercial surface that doesn't map directly to TVL. Both products contribute to the business case Hanley referenced when noting Solana's transaction volume alongside the TVL milestone.

The mobile app, launched to early access in mid-2026, had drawn more than 9,000 users as of Q2 reporting. That consumer-facing channel is new for a protocol that built its early base through validator partnerships and institutional LST programs.

For more on Sanctum's product evolution and the reasoning behind infinite LSTs, our coverage of FP Lee's Lightspeed interview covers the transition from liquid staking infrastructure to the broader transaction layer strategy.