One of Marinade’s core strengths is its liquid staking mechanism. Users receive mSOL in exchange for staked SOL. mSOL represents staked SOL, maintains a value close to SOL, and enables participation in yield opportunities across the Solana DeFi ecosystem.

The protocol also includes a decentralized exchange (DEX) component, allowing users to execute swaps without unstaking SOL. This increases flexibility and efficiency within the ecosystem.

Marinade is governed by a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), and the MNDE token serves as the governance token. MNDE holders can participate in decision-making, treasury management, and protocol direction.

Team and Founders

Marinade was created in March 2021 following the Solana x Serum Hackathon. The founding members merged two separate projects to build a liquid staking solution. The project received grants from both the Solana Foundation and Serum, maintained a community-first development strategy, and did not raise venture capital.

The initially anonymous team later revealed several contributors, based on the provided visual:

• Michael Repetny: Strategy

• Scott Gralnick: Head of Growth, Americas

• Vu Hoang Anh: Marketing

• Rob Tarabcak: Product

Investors and Partnerships

Marinade developed through ecosystem grants and support programs rather than VC funding. Key supporters include:

• Solana Foundation

• Serum

Project Mechanics

Marinade operates through two main mechanisms:

Liquid Staking

• Users deposit SOL into Marinade’s smart contract.

• The contract mints mSOL based on the deposited SOL and accumulated rewards.

• SOL is automatically delegated across more than 400 validators based on performance and decentralization factors.

• The value of mSOL increases over time as rewards accumulate.

• mSOL can be used freely in the Solana DeFi ecosystem for collateral, liquidity provision, or yield strategies.

Native Staking

• Users stake SOL without receiving a liquid token.

• Marinade delegates the SOL using its validator strategy.

• This resembles traditional staking but benefits from automated validator optimization.

DAO Governance

Marinade is governed through Marinade DAO (mDAO). MNDE holders lock tokens in Realms to receive veMNDE and vote.

• MNDE holders influence treasury and protocol decisions.

• A seven-member Marinade Council manages operations.

• All governance activity is fully on-chain.

Roadmap

Marinade’s development timeline includes:

• March 2021: Project inception

• August 2021: Mainnet launch

• October 2021: MNDE public launch and liquidity mining

• April 2022: On-chain governance introduced

• July 2023: Governance moved to Realms

• September 2025: 300M MNDE burned, reducing supply to 700M

The roadmap focuses on TVL growth via a Performance Program tied to TVL milestones:

• Milestone 1: 46M MNDE distributed at 8M SOL TVL (active Oct 23, 2023 – Sep 24, 2024)

• Milestone 2: Distribution at 16M SOL TVL

• Milestone 3: Distribution at 32M SOL TVL

Token Utility

• Liquid staking with mSOL

• Voting in DAO governance

• Participating in treasury decisions

• Yield strategies across the Solana DeFi ecosystem

MNDE Token Details

• Total Supply: 700M MNDE

• Maximum Supply: Not fixed

• Circulating Supply: 552.25M MNDE (self-reported)

Token Distribution

• DAO Treasury: 89.3% (625M MNDE)

• Performance Program Allocation: 138M MNDE within the treasury

• Early Contributors: 10.7% (75M MNDE), fully released January 2024

Ecosystem Capabilities

• Liquid staking with mSOL

• Flexible stake and unstake options

• mSOL-based DeFi yield strategies

• Validator redelegation

• DAO participation

Core Features

• Liquid staking for capital efficiency

• Automatic validator delegation

• Native staking option

• DAO governance via MNDE

• Audited security model

Official Links

• Website
• Twitter
• Discord

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