A conversation with Robin, CEO of Raiku, about Raiku's approach to guaranteed transaction includion on Solana.

📝 Notes from the show

In this episode of the Solfate Podcast, hosts James and Nick welcome Robin, founder of Raiku, to discuss Raiku's approach to guaranteed Solana transaction inclusion using validator sidecars, a decentralized coordination layer, and ahead-of-time block auctions. The conversation covers why L1s hit physical latency limits, how inclusion signals and pre-reserved blockspace reduce dropped transactions and retry spam, and where Raiku differs from existing infrastructure like Jito bundles. Robin shares his background from Ethereum and Hyperledger, why he chose Solana, what’s shipping in Raiku's testnet v1 vs v2, and how validator incentives, pricing modules, and oracle speed factor into high-performance DeFi applications.

  - 00:00 Intro and elevator pitch for Raiku

  - 03:20 Robin’s background, Ethereum years, and lessons from L2s

  - 06:34 Why Solana: tech maturity, dev mindshare, edge compute interest

  - 10:24 Problems to solve: predictability, fragmentation, validator alignment

  - 13:44 Architecture: validator sidecar, coordination node, block auctions

  - 16:27 Raiku vs Jito bundles and mempool latency

  - 18:58 Inclusion signals cadence and “up to 60s ahead” planning

  - 20:12 Differentiated blockspace, plugins, discounted lanes for oracles

  - 22:26 Reliability at scale, reducing retries during congestion

  - 26:06 How auctions work with blockhash TTL, SDK and endpoints

  - 27:26 Pricing modules, open market for searchers, fee split design

  - 29:36 Testnet v1 today, v2 decentralization and load testing

  - 31:32 Not an L2: limited node set, “good actors,” incentive design

  - 33:06 Extending Solana without classic L2 tradeoffs

  - 37:14 Transaction flow: app → Raiku node → validator

  - 38:28 First users: DeFi, perps, HFT, solver flows

  - 40:42 Faster confirmation needs faster oracles and price feeds

  - 43:04 Alpenglow outlook and finality targets

  - 43:46 Hiring, roles needed, closing

🔗 Find Robin and Raiku online

Follow Robin on Twitter/X: @degenroot

Follow Raiku on Twitter/X: @raikucom

Check out Raiku at their website: raiku.com