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Analysis of the Solana Liquid Staking Market: Four Major Participants Compete for TVL Recovery
Analysis of the Solana Liquid Staking Market: Four Major Participants
As the cryptocurrency market warms up, Solana (SOL) has risen to the sixth position by market capitalization, with its staking assets scale second only to Ethereum among all proof-of-stake (PoS) blockchains. However, the capital concentration of decentralized finance (DeFi) applications in the Solana ecosystem is relatively low, with a total locked value (TVL) of $1.137 billion, only 11.3% of its historical peak.
In the TVL of Solana, liquid staking projects play a key role and are an important factor in driving the recovery of TVL. Among them, Marinade and Jito occupy a significant position with the highest TVL, highlighting the importance of the liquid staking category. This article will delve into the main participants in the Solana liquid staking space and conduct a comparative analysis of their strategies and market performance.
Solana staking overview
As of December 12, the market cap of SOL is $30.53 billion, with a staking market cap of $27.62 billion, a staking ratio of 69.18%, and a staking amount of 391 million SOL. The inflation rate is 6.75%, and the reward rate is 6.87%. The staking market cap of SOL ranks second among all PoS public chains, second only to ETH; the staking ratio is also relatively high among PoS public chains with a larger market cap.
The Solana network has a total of 1,986 validators, with the top-ranking validators offering an APY of nearly 8%, with no commission. To reward SOL holders and enhance network security and censorship resistance, the Solana Foundation launched the "staking pool program." Data shows that a total of 16.82 million SOL is locked in the staking pool, with an average APY of 6.68%, accounting for about 4.3% of the total staking amount.
Analysis of Major Liquid Staking Projects
1. Marinade Finance
Marinade Finance is one of the earliest liquid staking protocols in the Solana ecosystem, launched on the mainnet in August 2021. Users can stake SOL to receive mSOL, and the staking rewards are directly accumulated in mSOL.
Features:
Governance Token MNDE:
2. Jito
Jito launched its liquid staking platform at the end of 2022. Users can stake SOL to earn JitoSOL, with staking rewards directly accumulating in JitoSOL.
Features:
Governance Token JTO:
3. BlazeStake
BlazeStake was launched in May 2022 and has rapidly developed recently due to the explosive growth of the Solana ecosystem. Users can stake SOL to receive bSOL, and the staking rewards are directly accumulated into bSOL.
Features:
Governance token BLZE:
4. Lido
Lido launched its liquid staking service on Solana in September 2021, but the development did not meet expectations, and it announced in October that it would stop accepting new stakes. Users who stake SOL can receive stSOL, and the staking earnings accumulate in stSOL.
Features:
Governance Token LDO:
The Application of LST in DeFi
Liquidity staking tokens (LST) from various projects are widely supported in Solana DeFi applications:
Incentive measures have a significant impact on the growth of staking volume and LST liquidity:
Summary
There are various representative liquid staking solutions within the Solana ecosystem, each with its own characteristics: Marinade is the earliest and provides native staking; Jito offers higher yields through MEV infrastructure; BlazeStake allows staking to specific validators; Lido represents a multi-chain liquid staking service.
However, the total amount of liquid staking remains low, accounting for only 4.3% of all staked SOL. Diversified solutions have also led to a dispersion of liquidity, and new competitive solutions may emerge in the future. Incentives are still crucial for the growth of staking volume and LST liquidity, as evidenced by the rapid growth of Blaze and Lido's exit.