> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://jito-foundation.gitbook.io/mev/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://jito-foundation.gitbook.io/mev/mev-payment-and-distribution/tip-distribution-program.md).

# Tip Distribution Program

#### Tip Distribution

<figure><img src="/files/2GPjlt72WsZY6nsfG8D6" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

The tip distribution program is responsible for collecting and distributing MEV to validators and stakers.

Every epoch, the validator client creates a unique TipDistributionAccount derived by the epoch and vote account public key. The validator client then uses this TipDistributionAccount to aggregate MEV paid out to their account over the entire epoch.&#x20;

Once the epoch is over, a validator (or delegate denoted by the merkle root upload authority) takes a snapshot of the last slot in the previous epoch, generates a merkle tree containing the claims for each validator and stake account, and uploads the root on-chain. Then validators and stakers can claim MEV (or have others claim on their behalf) in the form of an airdrop.

### MEV Airdrops In Depth

At the end of an epoch, the MEV funds for a given validator are stored at a PDA derived by the validators vote account and epoch. At the end of every epoch, the following happens:

* A state snapshot is taken of the last slot in an epoch
* A script runs which outputs the stake account information on a per-validator basis with the MEV collected in the account.
* Another script runs which generates a merkle tree which contains information about the amount of MEV distributed to a validator and their stakers on a pro-rata basis.
  * This script can also upload the merkle root to the tip distribution account which allows stakers to claim.

## Snapshot Storage

The following links are URLs containing end-of-epoch snapshots. The foundation will add more parties when they become available. Use these snapshots at your own risk:

* [Jito Labs](https://console.cloud.google.com/storage/browser/jito-mainnet;tab=objects?forceOnBucketsSortingFiltering=false\&project=mev-distribution\&prefix=\&forceOnObjectsSortingFiltering=false)