Marinade is a Solana-native staking protocol. Our snapshot records roughly $239.3M in total value on a single chain (Solana) and shows two audits on file, which lifts its audit signal. It ranks 14/15 in our Staking platforms group with a score of 6.74, held down mainly by the absence of a detected status page.
How Marinade works
Marinade is publicly known for two approaches on Solana: liquid staking, where you deposit SOL and receive a token that accrues rewards while staying usable in DeFi, and native staking, where your SOL is delegated across a set of validators while remaining in your own stake accounts. Both draw rewards from Solana's proof-of-stake consensus, spreading delegation across validators to reduce reliance on any single operator. Validator performance and uptime affect the rewards you accrue.
What our review captured
The audit signal is the notable positive: we recorded two audits, which is why that criterion scores well against category peers. We also logged a fast 78 ms interface response time and confirmed single-chain scope, consistent with a Solana-only protocol. On the downside, we did not detect a public status page, which is the main drag on the overall score.
Risks and caveats
- Smart-contract risk: liquid staking relies on contracts that can hold bugs despite audits.
- Peg and liquidity risk: a liquid staking token can trade below the value of the underlying SOL under stress.
- Validator risk: delegated validators' downtime reduces rewards.
- Single-network exposure: this is Solana-only, so it carries Solana-specific risk.
Liquid versus native: which model?
The two approaches carry different trade-offs. Liquid staking gives you a transferable, reward-bearing token you can use across Solana DeFi, but it adds smart-contract exposure and the chance the token trades at a discount to underlying SOL. Native staking keeps your SOL in your own stake accounts with less contract surface, at the cost of the composability the liquid token offers. Both spread delegation across validators to reduce single-operator risk, and both are subject to Solana's epoch-based unstaking timing rather than instant withdrawals.
Who is it for?
Marinade suits Solana users who want on-chain, audited staking and value the choice between liquid and native delegation. It is less relevant to people staking assets on other chains or those who want a custodial, exchange-style product with formal support. Confirm current reward and fee details on Marinade's own interface.