As Solana's largest DEX aggregator, Jupiter made waves in the crypto space when it announced the JUP token at Solana Breakpoint 2023. This wasn't just another airdrop—it was set to be one of the largest in blockchain history, distributing nearly $700 million worth of tokens to almost one million eligible wallets. Phantom played a pivotal role in ensuring this massive event ran smoothly.
Here’s how we navigated the challenges, lessons learned, and what’s next for Solana’s ecosystem.
Behind the Scenes of the JUP Airdrop
The Prelude: Learning from WEN
Before JUP, Jupiter surprised the community with the WEN token airdrop, distributing tokens to over a million wallets. Though exhilarating, this impromptu event exposed critical stress points:
- Traffic Overload: At peak, Phantom processed 8K requests per second (RPS)—8x the PYTH airdrop volume.
- Infrastructure Limits: Database connections maxed out, and AWS NAT Gateway port limits were hit, causing temporary outages.
Key takeaways:
- Adjust AWS Lambda concurrency limits.
- Optimize database queries for high-traffic scenarios.
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Preparing for JUP: A Four-Day Sprint
With just four days until JUP’s launch, Phantom assembled a dedicated team and collaborated with critical partners:
Infrastructure Upgrades
- RPC Providers (QuickNode & Triton): Load-tested to handle 75K RPS.
- Blowfish: Scaled to simulate 25K RPS for transaction security.
- Allium: Created dedicated databases for EVM and Solana queries.
Load Testing & Fixes
- Conducted 16 staging tests, simulating up to 30K RPS.
- Expanded AWS NAT Gateway ports from 55K to 440K.
- Implemented real-time monitoring via Datadog alerts.
JUP Launch Day: The Biggest Test Yet
At 10 AM PST, the airdrop went live—and traffic skyrocketed:
- Peak RPS: 90,000 (vs. WEN’s 8K).
- Total Requests: 477 million over four hours.
Performance Gains:
- 6x faster response times.
- 10x fewer errors than WEN.
Key Wins
Real-Time Adjustments:
- Balanced RPC traffic between QuickNode & Triton.
- Fixed database locks via Allium’s quick interventions.
- Priority Fees: Backend optimizations prevented bottlenecks.
Areas for Improvement
- Better token price load testing.
- Optimized database queries.
Key Takeaways & Future Roadmap
What Worked ✅
- Rigorous load testing ensured scalability.
- War room coordination enabled rapid troubleshooting.
- Cloudflare WAF rules mitigated DDoS risks.
Next Steps 🔧
- Redundant databases for failover support.
- Smarter RPC traffic routing.
- Enhanced query optimization.
FAQs
1. How many wallets were eligible for the JUP airdrop?
Nearly one million wallets qualified, making it one of Solana’s largest distributions.
2. What was the peak traffic during the JUP claim?
Phantom handled 90,000 RPS—far exceeding the WEN airdrop’s 8K RPS.
3. How did Phantom improve performance vs. WEN?
By expanding AWS ports, optimizing RPC splits, and reducing Lambda timeouts.
4. Will Phantom support future Solana airdrops?
Absolutely! We’re refining infrastructure for even smoother launches.
Final Thoughts
The JUP airdrop proved Solana’s resilience—and Phantom’s ability to scale under pressure. With stronger systems and community collaboration, we’re ready for the next milestone.
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Stay tuned for more updates! 🚀