Marinade
MNDE Governance¶
Marinade is governed by people who stake MNDE and obtain veMNDE.
DAO Constitution¶
Marinade is owned by MNDE holders that stake their MNDE to obtain veMNDE. The DAO runs on Realms. In a previous vote, MNDE holders ratified this Constitution that highlights the goals of Marinade as a DAO.
1. The Marinade DAO builds a censorship-resistant layer of Solana
The DAO builds the risk-management infrastructure to provide improved security and capital efficiency for the Solana network and the users through SOL liquid staking. Marinade governance will support development connected to the censorship resistance and liveness topic. It will support the ecosystem to build on top of Marinade but will not pursue building its second-layer DeFi primitives such as lending protocols, stablecoin, DEX, options, etc.
2. Separation of powers
To allow flexibility and predictability, the critical system parts are owned by the Marinade governance, and the operational control and funding are granted to the core team.
- Marinade Governance (MNDE token holders + ecosystem council): main program upgrade, MNDE treasury
- Marinade Core Team (team council): main program params, DAO program, fees
3. Fees usage
The primary usage of fees is to fund the team operations and further protocol development. The excess of fees accumulated is governed and decided by the DAO.
4. MNDE distribution goals
The incentives should be aligned with the objectives of the DAO. Starting with the fair launch, the Marinade governance plans to keep continuity in its objective for the DAO ownership to be well-spread in the ecosystem to benefit all the actors powered by secure Solana.
5. Amendments to this constitution by majority vote
Any change may be made to this constitution only by a two-thirds majority and at least 1% of all tokens participating.
DAO Structure¶
As planned by the constitution above, Marinade has split the powers and responsibilities in the following way:
MNDE holders - All MNDE holders that staked their MNDE to obtain governance power
- Ownership of Marinade's treasury
- Ownership of the upgrade authority and admin parameters for Marinade Native, validator bonds, Recipes, gauges and the rest of the contract surface
The main mSOL liquid staking program is the exception. Its upgrade authority still sits on the Solana ecosystem multisig rather than with the DAO. See Multisig governance.
Marinade Council - A set of 5 contributors elected internally to drive operations, holding a 3-of-5 multisig on Realms.
- Power to update the contract parameters (see this)
- Use the protocol fees to conduct operations
- Access to Marinade's operational wallet (containing earmarked budgets voted on by the DAO)
The same five contributors also form the Emergency Pause Council, which holds pause authority on the main mSOL program and on validator bonds under a separate 3-of-5 threshold.
The five seats are verifiable: the DAO's council mint 6MGwpuJ5YE1c8jJaF8FKurQdDJeYRf1adX76dovkXxRs has a supply of exactly 5, at zero decimals, so five council tokens exist and five seats are filled.
Marinade considers that all governance participants agree to follow this Code of Conduct, ratified by the DAO.
Stake MNDE for Governance¶
To participate in Marinade's governance and benefit from MNDE's utility, stake your MNDE on Marinade's governance page. Staked MNDE gives your wallet veMNDE voting power.
Step 1: Open the Governance Page
- Go to Marinade's governance page, connect your wallet and click Start staking MNDE.
Step 2: Enter the Amount
- Enter the amount of MNDE you want to stake, or click Max, then click Stake.
Step 3: Approve in Your Wallet
- Approve the transaction in your wallet.
30 days to unstake. Once you start the unstake process, you can claim your MNDE tokens after 30 days.
Your voting power falls steadily to zero over the 30-day unstake period. It does not disappear the moment you start unstaking, so you can still vote while unstaking, with less weight as the period runs down.
If you still hold a Marinade Chef NFT with locked MNDE, there is no self-serve migration page any more. Open a support ticket in the Help Center or on Discord with your wallet address and a screenshot of what you hold, and the team will handle it case by case.
Voting happens in Realms. Once your MNDE is staked, vote on proposals in Realms. The Governance proposals link on Marinade's governance page takes you there.
Realms setup¶
Marinade's Realms is configured with the following parameters:
| Role | Address |
|---|---|
| Realm (pubkey) | 899YG3yk4F66ZgbNWLHriZHTXSKk9e1kvsKEquW7L6Mo |
| Authority | FsrqQfLGdFVtySSSsyZJUzVBA9bvGZSKyhp7nsJCqgJe |
| Owner (SPL governance program) | GovMaiHfpVPw8BAM1mbdzgmSZYDw2tdP32J2fapoQoYs |
| Community mint (MNDE) | MNDEFzGvMt87ueuHvVU9VcTqsAP5b3fTGPsHuuPA5ey |
| Council mint | 6MGwpuJ5YE1c8jJaF8FKurQdDJeYRf1adX76dovkXxRs |
| Voter Stake Registry program | VoteMBhDCqGLRgYpp9o7DGyq81KNmwjXQRAHStjtJsS |
| VSR registrar | 5zgEgPbWKsAAnLPjSM56ZsbLPfVM6nUzh3u45tCnm97D |
All subgovernances and their parameters can be consulted on this page.
FAQ¶
Where are governance items discussed and how do I find out about them?
Governance topics will always be discussed on Marinade Forum to be thoroughly analysed. Once the discussion has been finalized, it can be submitted for a vote.
There will also be announcements on Marinade's Discord when a proposal is active and can be voted on. Our Discord is also an excellent place to talk about ongoing governance proposals.
Where can I trade MNDE?
MNDE tokens can be acquired or sold on any DEX in the Solana ecosystem. We recommend using Jupiter aggregator to find the best prices.
Where do I stake MNDE?
On Marinade's governance page. Click Start staking MNDE.
Where do I vote?
In Realms. The Governance proposals link on Marinade's governance page takes you there.
What is veMNDE?
veMNDE is the representation of your governance power in Marinade DAO. Staking MNDE on Marinade's governance page gives your wallet veMNDE power.
veMNDE is not a fungible SPL token you can trade or see in your wallet.
Can I vote while my MNDE is unstaking?
Yes. Your voting power falls steadily to zero over the 30-day unstake period. Halfway through, you still hold roughly half the weight of a full stake.
Why can't I claim my MNDE after the 30 days?
If claiming fails with "All votes must be relinquished to withdraw governing tokens", your wallet still has votes recorded on proposals. Relinquish your votes in Realms, then claim again.
What should I do with my Chef NFTs?
Marinade Chef NFTs are long deprecated and there is no longer a self-serve page for migrating them. If you still hold one, open a support ticket with your wallet address, a screenshot of what you hold and what you want to do. Responses can take longer than usual because each position is handled individually.