About Marinade Finance
Marinade Finance is a leading liquid staking platform on the Solana blockchain, designed to improve capital efficiency, staking flexibility, and network decentralization. By offering a non-custodial liquid staking solution, Marinade allows users to stake SOL while retaining liquidity through its native staking derivative, mSOL. This enables users to participate in DeFi protocols while still earning staking rewards, eliminating the traditional trade-off between staking and liquidity.
With a strong commitment to decentralization, Marinade Finance helps distribute staked SOL across a network of carefully selected validators, strengthening the security and stability of Solana’s ecosystem. The platform is deeply integrated with major Solana DeFi applications, making it one of the most widely adopted staking solutions in the ecosystem. Marinade also offers native staking for users who prefer a direct staking experience while benefiting from Marinade’s automatic delegation strategy.
Marinade Finance was launched to tackle major challenges in the Solana staking ecosystem, such as capital inefficiency, validator centralization, and liquidity constraints. Traditional staking locks SOL tokens, limiting users from leveraging their assets in the growing DeFi ecosystem. Marinade’s solution allows users to stake their SOL and receive mSOL, a liquid staking derivative that appreciates in value as staking rewards accumulate.
A major goal of Marinade Finance is to support Solana’s decentralization by delegating staked SOL to a diverse group of validators, ensuring a fairer distribution of network resources. This strategy enhances the overall security and performance of the blockchain while mitigating the risks of stake concentration among a few validators.
The platform offers two core staking options:
- Liquid Staking: Users deposit SOL and receive mSOL, which continues to earn staking rewards while remaining available for use in DeFi protocols.
- Native Staking: Users can stake their SOL directly with Marinade, benefiting from automatic delegation to high-quality validators without receiving a liquid staking token.
As one of the most adopted liquid staking solutions on Solana, Marinade has been integrated into top DeFi platforms such as Raydium, Orca, and Francium. These integrations allow users to utilize their mSOL for liquidity provision, lending, and yield farming.
Competitors such as Lido and Jito also offer liquid staking, but Marinade Finance sets itself apart with its strong focus on decentralization, offering an optimized validator delegation strategy to ensure a more distributed network.
To ensure user security, Marinade Finance operates in a non-custodial manner, meaning users retain full control over their assets at all times. The platform has undergone multiple security audits to maintain high trust levels. Additionally, Marinade is governed by a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), giving users a direct role in protocol governance.
Marinade Finance provides numerous benefits and features that make it a leading choice for Solana staking:
- Liquid Staking with mSOL: Users can stake SOL and receive mSOL, a liquid token that maintains staking rewards while being usable in DeFi applications.
- Non-Custodial & Secure: Staking is done entirely on-chain, with users maintaining control over their assets at all times.
- Automatic Validator Delegation: Stake is distributed among multiple high-performing validators, promoting Solana's decentralization.
- Deep DeFi Integration: mSOL is widely supported across Solana’s DeFi ecosystem, enabling lending, liquidity provision, and yield farming.
- Two Staking Options: Users can choose between liquid staking (with mSOL) or native staking (without receiving a liquid token).
- Community-Governed: Marinade Finance operates as a DAO, ensuring that users play a role in shaping the platform's future.
Marinade Finance offers a simple and efficient way for Solana users to stake their assets while maintaining flexibility. Follow these steps to get started:
- Connect Your Wallet: Visit Marinade Finance and connect a Solana-compatible wallet such as Phantom, Solflare, or Backpack.
- Select a Staking Option: Choose between liquid staking (to receive mSOL) or native staking (staking SOL directly with Marinade).
- Stake Your SOL: Enter the amount of SOL you want to stake and confirm the transaction.
- Utilize Your mSOL: If you opt for liquid staking, you can use mSOL across Solana's DeFi protocols like Raydium and Orca.
- Unstaking: You can unstake your SOL at any time by using the delayed unstaking feature or swapping mSOL back to SOL on a DEX.
Marinade Finance FAQ
When you stake your SOL with Marinade Finance, your tokens are delegated to a network of carefully selected validators, ensuring optimal performance and security. In return, you receive mSOL, a liquid staking token that continues to earn staking rewards while remaining fully tradable. This means you don’t have to lock up your assets like traditional staking—your mSOL can be used in DeFi applications while still benefiting from staking yields.
Marinade Finance enhances Solana's decentralization by distributing staked SOL across a diverse set of validators instead of concentrating it among a few large ones. Using an automated delegation strategy, Marinade selects validators based on performance, reliability, and decentralization metrics. This ensures a healthier, more secure blockchain ecosystem where no single entity controls an excessive amount of staked SOL. By participating in Marinade Finance, users directly contribute to strengthening Solana’s network security.
Yes! mSOL is designed to be used across the Solana DeFi ecosystem while still accruing staking rewards. Unlike traditional staking, where assets are locked, mSOL remains liquid and can be used for lending, liquidity provision, and yield farming. You can supply mSOL on lending platforms like Solend, stake it in liquidity pools on Raydium, or swap it back for SOL instantly if needed. This flexibility allows users to maximize their earnings while maintaining access to their funds.
While Marinade Finance is designed for security and efficiency, risks include smart contract vulnerabilities, validator performance issues, and potential mSOL price fluctuations relative to SOL. To mitigate these risks, Marinade operates as a non-custodial protocol, meaning users always maintain control over their assets. The platform undergoes extensive security audits, and validator delegations are optimized to reduce slashing risks. Additionally, mSOL liquidity is supported on major DEXs, allowing users to swap assets if necessary.
Marinade Finance offers two ways to unstake SOL: Delayed Unstaking and Instant Unstaking. With Delayed Unstaking, users submit an unstake request, and after the processing period, they receive their original SOL without incurring any additional fees. If immediate access is needed, Instant Unstaking allows users to swap mSOL for SOL instantly on Raydium or Orca, though there may be minor slippage depending on market conditions.