Earn Up to 6% APY on USDC: Marinade Launches Stablecoin Vault on Solana

Looking for the best USDC yield on Solana? Marinade's new USDC Vault lets you earn up to 6% APY on your stablecoins — or convert directly from staked SOL in one click.

Why Off-Ramping SOL to USD Costs You 1-2%

When Solana stakers want to exit to USD, they're stuck with a painful multi-step process:

1. Unstake SOL (wait 2 days)
2. Swap to USDC (slippage)
3. Transfer to an exchange (fees)
4. Sell for fiat (spread)
5. Withdraw to bank (more fees)

By the time you're done, you've lost 1-2% in compounded fees and waited several days.

We see ~767,000 SOL in monthly unstakes from about 3,500 users — and roughly 75% of them are looking to exit to USD. That's a lot of value lost to friction.

One-Click from Staked SOL to 6% USDC Yield

The Marinade USDC Vault catches this flow at the moment of unstaking. Instead of losing money on the way out, you start earning immediately.

Target APY: Up to 6% (variable, based on market conditions)

You're not getting spendable fiat — you're getting USDC that earns yield while you figure out your next move. Direct fiat off-ramps are coming in a future release.

How the Marinade USDC Vault Works

Three ways to deposit:

1. Unstake to Vault: When you unstake SOL or mSOL, choose "Convert to USD Vault." One click handles everything — unstaking, swapping to USDC via Jupiter, and depositing into the vault.
2. Direct USDC Deposit: Already have USDC sitting idle? Deposit directly from the Marinade Earn page and start earning immediately.
3. Withdraw Anytime: Pull your USDC back to your wallet whenever you want. Instant withdrawals within the vault's liquidity buffer.

Everything happens on-chain on Solana. Sub-second finality, fees under $0.01.

Who's Behind the Vault: Kamino + RockawayX

We built this with two partners we trust:

Kamino Finance — The Infrastructure

Kamino is Solana's largest lending protocol with over $3B in total value locked. They provide the smart contracts, lending markets, and vault mechanics that power the Marinade USDC Vault.

• 18 independent security audits
• Zero bad debt since inception
• Battle-tested Kamino Lend V2 infrastructure

RockawayX — The Vault Manager

RockawayX is one of Solana's earliest seed backers, managing $2B+ in digital assets across 100+ protocol partnerships.

For this vault, they run a conservative mixed-market strategy:

• ~10% in Kamino main lending markets
• ~10% in Maple institutional credit markets
• Remainder in RWA (real-world asset) markets

They've operated through every major stress event since 2022 with zero defaults.

"Our job is to underwrite every allocation properly and rebalance when conditions move. We've run market-neutral strategies through every major stress event since 2022 with zero defaults. That's the standard we're applying here." — Nassim Alexandre, Head of Onchain Asset Management, RockawayX

Who Controls Your Funds?

Marinade owns and controls the vault. Our Council multisig (3/5) is the Strategy Manager with ultimate authority. We can swap managers, wind down the vault, or change configurations at any time.

RockawayX operates under our authority. They deploy funds and rebalance across markets, but they can't withdraw to external wallets or change vault settings.

The trust hierarchy: Marinade (owner) → RockawayX (operator) → Kamino (infrastructure)

Your funds sit on-chain in a Kamino Lending Vault. You receive an SPL token representing your vault share, which you can transfer or withdraw whenever you want. This isn't Marinade holding your USDC — it's you holding a vault share token that represents your position.

Risks to Consider

• Yield is variable and not guaranteed
• Smart contract risk exists (Kamino infrastructure)
• USDC depeg risk
• Operational risk (RockawayX as delegated manager)

Always do your own research before depositing.

Start Earning Up to 6% on Your USDC

Stop losing 1-2% every time you off-ramp. Start earning instead.

Deposit USDC Now →

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