Most people stake their SOL and leave it there, earning the usual staking rewards. It’s safe, it’s steady — but it’s also kind of lazy. Your staked SOL is doing one job: securing the Solana network.
@Solayer asks a simple question: what if that same SOL could work two jobs at once?
That’s where restaking comes in. With Solayer, you can take your SOL — or even certain Solana liquid staking tokens (like mSOL, jitoSOL when supported) — and restake them to help secure other services on the network. These are called Actively Validated Services (AVSs). They might be oracles, payment rails, high-speed data layers, or any system that benefits from extra economic security.
Here’s the twist: you don’t have to lock your assets away to do it. Solayer gives you a liquid receipt token (sSOL) when you restake. You can use it in DeFi, trade it, or hold it — while still earning both your base staking rewards and extra yield from the AVSs you’re backing.
More Than Just Restaking
Solayer isn’t just a “restake and chill” platform. The team is building a whole performance-first ecosystem:
InfiniSVM — a hardware-accelerated version of the Solana Virtual Machine aiming for insane throughput and lightning-fast confirmations. Perfect for apps that can’t wait seconds for a transaction to clear.
sUSD — a yield-bearing stablecoin that could be backed by real-world assets, designed to actually earn something while sitting in your wallet.
Emerald Card — a payment card concept to connect on-chain yields with real-world spending.
Dev Tools — so builders can tap into Solayer’s pooled security without needing to run massive validator setups.
The Token Side
Solayer launched its $LAYER token in early 2025 with a community airdrop and a fixed supply. Like any token, it’s subject to unlock schedules and market swings — so keeping an eye on vesting timelines is a must.
What to Watch Out For
Restaking can boost your returns, but it’s not without risk. If an AVS or operator messes up, you could get slashed. Smart contracts can have bugs, even with audits. And while sSOL is liquid, markets for new tokens can be thin early on.
Bottom line: Solayer is taking a big Ethereum idea (EigenLayer-style restaking) and giving it a Solana-native twist. Faster, cheaper, and with extra tools baked in. If you believe in Solana’s growth, this might be one of the most interesting ways to make your staked SOL pull double duty — just make sure you know the rules of the game before you jump in.
