Solana’s Firedancer team now charges 1 SOL per bug report to curb AI spam

Want to report a bug in Solana’s Firedancer software? Bring 1 SOL, worth about $100, and expect to never see it again. The team behind Firedancer, the Solana validator client built by Jump Crypto, now requires researchers to burn 1 SOL with every bug bounty submission. The goal is to stem a flood of AI-assisted reports that has been eating up engineers’ time. Call it a cover charge for the security club. How the new bounty rules work The policy took effect on October 18, 2026. Every submission must come with a non-refundable burn of 1 SOL. Burning a token means sending it somewhere it can never be retrieved or spent. The coins are permanently removed from circulation. Nobody pockets the fee, including Jump Crypto. The rule covers every report, with no exceptions. That includes duplicates, and even submissions that flag a genuine issue someone else already reported. Researchers who skip the burn are not completely shut out. Their reports can still be reviewed. They just won’t be eligible for any payout. The stated aim is to cut spam and free up engineers to dig into real security flaws. The fee gives submitters a reason to check their work first, a modest deterrent for anyone hoping...