How Marinade Technology Works

Discover what makes Marinade a perfect marketplace to securely optimize your SOL funds.

Staking auction marketplace

How Marinade’s Stake Auction Marketplace Optimizes Rewards

The Stake Auction Marketplace (SAM) is a cornerstone of Marinade’s ability to consistently deliver industry-leading APYs for Solana staking.
On August 14, 2024, Marinade introduced SAM 2.0, an upgraded delegation strategy designed to enhance benefits for Validators, Stakers, and the broader decentralization of Solana’s network.
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Staking auction marketplace

What Is SAM?

SAM is an innovative and efficient delegation solution designed to optimize staking rewards. Similar to the bidding model of Google Ads, SAM creates a competitive marketplace for validators:
  1. Holders of SOL stake funds with Marinade for distribution.
  2. Validators bid for staker’s delegated SOL.
  3. Marinade automates the distribution of SOL to the highest-performing validators.
This unique system ensures that Marinade’s entire Solana TVL (Total Value Locked) is distributed exclusively through SAM, reinforcing transparency and efficiency.

How it works?

Selection

Validator Evaluation

Every epoch, Marinade evaluates all active validators participating in SAM with a properly set PSR bond. Performance is assessed, and stake amounts are rebalanced accordingly.
The entire process is open-source — the code computing stake distribution is publicly available, with all results published live on  Github for full transparency.
Distribution

Finding The Best Yield

SAM calculates validator performance based on a “max_yield” score, factoring in the highest yields at specific stake levels. At the end of every epoch, Marinade automatically redistributes stake to the top-performing validators, ensuring optimal returns for stakers.
Optimized Rewards

Where The Higher Yield Comes From

By allowing validators to share block rewards with stakers and incorporate additional third-party funds into their bids, SAM enables Marinade to deliver some of the highest rewards in the Solana ecosystem.
  • Block rewards remain fully (100%) allocated to validators.
  • Validators can leverage Marinade to share additional revenue streams directly with stakers.
This collaborative model creates a win-win environment where stakers enjoy enhanced yields, and validators gain access to competitive delegation opportunities.

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