In the context of the increasingly strong development of the cryptocurrency market, finding effective and safe staking solutions becomes a top concern of investors.
Marinade Finance, a decentralized staking protocol built on Solana, has quickly established itself as a leader in yield optimization and network decentralization.
This article will provide a comprehensive look at Marinade Finance – from its operating mechanism, outstanding advantages to its founding team and its important role in the current cryptocurrency ecosystem.
What is Marinade Finance?
Marinade Finance is a decentralized Staking protocol developed on the Solana blockchain platform, officially launched in August 2021 within the framework of Solana and Serum Hackathon.
This protocol is built to automate and optimize the SOL Token Staking process, helping users maximize profits while strengthening the decentralization and enhancing the security of the Solana network.
Marinade offers two main forms of Staking: Liquid Staking and Native Staking. In Liquid Staking, users stake SOL and receive mSOL tokens – representing staked SOL and accumulated rewards, which can be flexibly used in DeFi applications on Solana.
Meanwhile, Native Staking allows users to Stake SOL directly without going through a Smart Contract, with rewards automatically reinvested (compounded) every Epoch (about 2-3 days).
Marinade Finance Highlights
Automated Delegation to 100+ Validators: Marinade automatically allocates Stake to 100+ high-performing Validators, minimizing centralization risk and enhancing the decentralization of the Solana network.
Choose between Native and Liquid Staking: Users can choose the most suitable form, from Liquid Staking with mSOL used in DeFi, to Native Staking to eliminate risks related to Smart Contracts.
No Performance Fees: Marinade does not apply management fees on Staking rewards, allowing users to retain all profits.
Transparent Delegation Selection Strategy: The Validator selection formula is public, ensuring fairness and verifiability.
mSOL is versatile in DeFi: mSOL tokens can participate in many DeFi protocols on Solana such as lending or providing liquidity to increase income.
Redelegation and flexible liquidity: Users can transfer Stake or trade mSOL on secondary exchanges without long waiting times.
Model and operating mechanism
Marinade Finance operates on an ecosystem consisting of the following core components:
Staking Protocol: The central platform that allows users to Stake SOL via dApp. Liquid Staking generates mSOL tokens, while Native Staking uses a bot that automatically manages Delegation without the need for a Smart Contract.
mSOL Token: Represents staked SOL, with value increasing as rewards accumulate. mSOL is deeply integrated into the Solana ecosystem, even present on major exchanges like Coinbase.
Delegation Strategy: Includes Directed Stake (users self-select validators), Performance-based Stake (automatically select high-performance validators), and MNDE Voting-based Staking (based on MNDE token holder voting).
Validators: Marinade distributes Stake to over 100 selected validators using a Permissionless mechanism to maintain decentralization.
Marinade Finance's detailed operations
Liquid Staking Process
Stake SOL: Users connect their wallet to the Marinade app and select the amount of SOL they want to stake using Liquid Staking.
Mint mSOL: Smart Contract receives SOL, Stake into Pool and issues corresponding mSOL tokens to send to user wallet.
Delegation: SOL is allocated to Validators according to strategic proportions: Directed Stake (20%), Performance-based Stake (60%), and MNDE Voting-based Stake (20%).
Staking Rewards: Every Epoch (2-3 days), the cumulative rewards increase the value of mSOL relative to SOL.
Using mSOL: Users can leverage mSOL in DeFi applications or trade on secondary markets.
Native Staking Process
Delegate Stake Authority: User transfers Stake Authority management rights of Stake account to Marinade's Program Derived Address (PDA).
Delegation Management: Bot automatically allocates Stake to high-performing Validators.
Compound Rewards: Staking rewards are automatically reinvested every Epoch.
Stake Withdrawal: Users can Undelegate and withdraw SOL after 1-2 Epochs without any fees.
MNDE Token
Basic information
Token Name: Marinade
Symbol: MNDE
Blockchain: Solana
Contract: MNDEFzGvMt87ueuHvVU9VcTqsAP5b3fTGPsHuuPA5ey
Total supply: 1,000,000,000
Token Distribution
Initial Contributor: 7.5% (75 million MNDE)
Early contributors.
Distribution complete in January 2024.
DAO Treasury: 92.5% (925 million MNDE)
Coordinated according to MNDE owner recommendations.
The allocation process in the treasury is not yet complete.
Performance program: 13.8% (138 million MNDE)
Budget is divided based on TVL milestones.
The Marinade team has identified three initial TVL milestones, each of which is allocated 46 million MNDE from the DAO.
Milestone 1: 8 million SOL TVL (Completed)
46 million MNDE for the 8 million SOL TVL milestone started on 10/23/2023 and ended on 9/24/2024.
Milestone 2: 16 million SOL TVL (Not yet realized)
Will be distributed after reaching 16 million SOL TVL.
Milestone 3: 32 million SOL TVL (Not yet realized)
Will be distributed after reaching 32 million SOL TVL.
Investor
Team
Hadley S. – CCO
Digital asset expert who has served as an advisor at companies such as Flipside Crypto, MPCH, and Incyt.
He led BNY Mellon in launching the first Bitcoin and Ethereum custody product for institutional clients.
Currently, Hadley is the Chief Commercial Officer at Marinade, responsible for partnering with global financial institutions to integrate SOL Staking into their digital asset portfolios.
Michael Repetný – Co-founder & CEO
He is the founder and CEO of Marinade Labs, the largest staking platform on Solana since 2021.
Prior to that, he was a software engineer and co-founder of a web analytics startup in Prague.
Michael started his journey with Web3 from his internship days, gradually building solutions to serve the user community and organizations.
Development roadmap
Project information channel
Website: https://marinade.finance
Twitter: https://x.com/MarinadeFinance
Discord: https://discord.com/invite/yTdH8YkYKg
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/marinade-finance
Conclude
Marinade Finance is currently one of the most pioneering and efficient Staking protocols on the Solana platform, providing flexibility, transparency and convenience to users.
With a total value locked (TVL) of approximately $1.856 billion as of May 28, 2025 (according to DefiLlama), Marinade represents approximately 2.5% of all staked SOL, affirming its important position in the Solana ecosystem.
The protocol not only helps optimize profits through two forms of Liquid and Native Staking, but also contributes to enhancing the decentralization of the network, creating a safe and sustainable investment environment for the cryptocurrency community.
Source: https://tintucbitcoin.com/marinade-finance-la-gi/
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