Liquid Staking on Solana
Liquid staking lets SOL holders earn staking rewards without giving up access to their capital. Instead of locking SOL and waiting to unstake before using it again, users receive a liquid staking token that can remain active across the Solana DeFi ecosystem.
That makes liquid staking useful for users who want staking exposure while still being able to trade, lend, provide liquidity, or use their position as collateral.
What Is Solana Liquid Staking?
Solana liquid staking means staking SOL through a protocol and receiving a liquid staking token, or LST, in return.
The LST represents the user’s share of the underlying staked SOL and continues to reflect staking rewards over time. Unlike natively staked SOL, it can usually be transferred or used across compatible DeFi applications without first waiting for the normal unstaking process.
How Does Liquid Staking Work?
Liquid staking on Solana follows a simple flow:
- You deposit SOL into a liquid staking protocol.
- The protocol delegates that SOL across validators.
- You receive an LST such as JitoSOL, mSOL, or JupSOL.
- Staking rewards accumulate in the underlying pool.
- The LST typically becomes worth more SOL over time as those rewards accrue.
Your LST balance may stay the same while its exchange rate against SOL increases. You can then hold it, swap it, or use it across supported DeFi apps.
Native Staking vs. Liquid Staking
Liquid staking offers more flexibility, but that flexibility comes with an additional layer of risk compared with native staking.
Best Solana Liquid Staking Options
Several major LSTs compete for liquidity and DeFi integrations across Solana:
- JitoSOL: Jito’s liquid staking token combines standard staking rewards with MEV-related rewards from its validator infrastructure.
- mSOL: Marinade’s LST is one of Solana’s longest-running options and is widely integrated across DeFi.
- JupSOL: Jupiter’s liquid staking token connects staking with the broader Jupiter ecosystem.
- PSOL: Phantom’s liquid staking token gives Phantom users a native route into liquid staking.
- Sanctum: Rather than focusing on one LST, Sanctum provides liquidity and infrastructure across a broad range of Solana liquid staking tokens.
The best option depends on factors such as liquidity, fees, validator strategy, DeFi integrations, and how easily the LST can be redeemed or swapped back into SOL.
Benefits of Liquid Staking
Liquid staking can make staked SOL more useful:
- Liquidity: LSTs can usually be transferred or traded without waiting for native unstaking.
- DeFi access: supported LSTs can be used in lending, liquidity pools, collateral, and other protocols.
- Capital efficiency: users can keep staking exposure while putting the LST to work elsewhere.
- Broader integrations: major LSTs are supported across a growing range of Solana applications.
The main advantage is flexibility. Instead of choosing between staking rewards and liquidity, users can retain both.
Risks of Liquid Staking
Liquid staking adds risks that do not exist to the same extent with native staking:
- Smart contract risk: bugs or exploits in the staking protocol can affect deposited assets.
- Liquidity risk: an LST may trade below its underlying SOL value when market liquidity is weak.
- Protocol risk: fees, validator selection, redemption rules, and reward mechanics differ between providers.
- DeFi risk: lending, LPs, and leveraged strategies add another layer of smart contract and market exposure.
- Exit costs: swapping an LST back to SOL may involve slippage or fees, while direct redemption can take longer.
Liquid staking does not create free extra yield. Higher returns usually come from taking additional protocol, liquidity, or DeFi risk.
How to Start Liquid Staking SOL
Getting started usually takes a few steps:
- Choose a liquid staking protocol and LST.
- Connect a compatible Solana wallet.
- Deposit SOL into the protocol.
- Receive the corresponding LST.
- Hold it for staking exposure or use it across supported DeFi apps.
Before staking, check the official protocol, token mint, fees, redemption process, and available liquidity.
If you manage SOL in Atomic Wallet, you can send it to a compatible Solana wallet when you want to interact with liquid staking protocols, while keeping the rest of your portfolio in self-custody.
