Phase 2 of Marinade’s Stake Auction Marketplace (SAM)
Marinade’s Stake Auction Marketplace enters Phase 2, unlocking higher rewards for Solana stakers through live validator bids.
A Brief Intro
Marinade’s Stake Auction Marketplace (SAM) is an integral part of the Marinade v2 upgrade. Its core purpose is to improve stakers’ APY by allowing validators to essentially share a percentage of their revenue via bidding on stake.
Validators use SAM to bid on stakers’ SOL deposits. The more stake they have, the more “extra” rewards they can earn, such as priority fees.
Stakers benefit by receiving extra rewards in the form of bids made by validators. Essentially, SAM is a mechanism to transfer extra rewards to stakers which were previously only available to validators. With bids now starting to be included, Marinade stakers will be earning more rewards than ever. There’s never been a better time than now to stake your SOL.
Phase 1 Recap
The rollout of SAM is taking place over 3 phases. Phase 1, which is coming to an end as Phase 2 begins, served as a testing environment for validators, allowing them to place bids and see a simulation of the stake distribution.
Marinade’s validators have generated significant activity in the Phase 1 test environment, reinforced by the following stats:
- 480+ PSR bonds created
- 180+ validators placed simulated bids
- Winning APY of 10%+, notably higher than alternative staking platforms
If you’d like to dive deeper into the Phase 1 metrics, check out the SAM dashboard.
Phase 2 And Beyond
On August 14th, the implementation of Phase 2 will transition SAM from a simulation environment to a live marketplace. That means Marinade stakers will begin to reap the additional rewards from validator bids. It won’t happen overnight; Marinade needs to use bids to cover rebalancing costs from the current delegation set to the SAM delegation set. Stakers can expect their APY to catch up with the Auction Winning APY around the end of August.
This pushes staking on Solana to a new level–no other platform, decentralized or centralized, unlocks the possibility for validators to share their extra rewards with stakers in a way that benefits all parties involved. By turning stakers and validators into marketplace participants, Phase 2 of the Stake Auction Marketplace transforms the dynamic of staking into a potentially profitable scenario for both parties.
Phase 3 involves raising the ceiling for how much rebalancing can take place each epoch, and adding a “call option” feature for validators to remain in the delegation set if they get outbid. It’s slated to roll out by mid-Q4 or later, depending on marketplace dynamics and changes to the delegation set once live. This phase will not have any direct impact on stakers and is mainly affecting validators.
Stay In Touch
The Marinade team is thrilled to unveil these groundbreaking staking capabilities, designed to empower both stakers and validators. Our mission is clear: to drive the decentralization of the Solana network while delivering unparalleled rewards to our stakers. Validators, this is your chance to join the most innovative staking marketplace in Solana—don’t miss out!
Get started with these resources:
Stay informed, share your feedback, and join the conversation by following Marinade on X and joining our vibrant community on Discord. The future of staking is here–be a part of it!
