Marinade Select
Marinade Select is a curated set of trusted Solana validators offering secure, decentralized, and capital-efficient staking.
Last updated
Marinade Select is a curated set of trusted Solana validators offering secure, decentralized, and capital-efficient staking.
Last updated
Marinade Select is a premium staking set powered by Marinade. It includes a vetted group of community-recognized validators that meet strict criteria for decentralization, performance, and compliance.
Unlike Marinade’s open , Marinade Select is invite-only and excludes:
Superminority validators (those with outsized influence on network consensus)
Validators on community or Marinade blacklists
Participants engaging in harmful MEV practices (e.g., sandwich attacks)
Marinade Select delivers:
High-Quality Validators: Each validator is vetted for decentralization, performance, and transparency.
Protected Staking Rewards (PSR): Validators cover penalties and rebalancing costs to safeguard user returns.
Smart Rebalancing: Stake is actively managed to optimize efficiency and avoid unnecessary costs.
Institutional Readiness: Fully compliant validator set suitable for regulated entities and large-scale stakers.
All validators in the Select set are required to maintain a bond denominated in SOL. This bond:
Covers performance penalties and rebalancing costs if a validator leaves the set.
Helps align validator incentives with staker outcomes.
Is automatically delegated to the validator to earn yield.
Bond Requirements:
Coverage Ratio: 1 SOL per 1,000 SOL staked
Source: SOL (locked and delegated through Marinade’s infrastructure)
Component
Details
Select Set
A curated list of verified validators. Participation requires identity verification, bonding, and ongoing performance standards.
Validator Bond
Validators post a bond (~1 SOL per 1,000 SOL staked) used to protect staker returns and cover rebalancing costs.
New Stake Flow
New deposits are distributed evenly across the Select set or allocated to underweighted validators based on individual user positions.
Unstaking
Selective unstaking from a subset of validators minimizes capital inefficiencies. Remaining stake is gradually rebalanced over time.
Rebalancing
Rebalancing occurs in epochs and ensures users maintain proportional exposure across the set without impacting APY.
Marinade Select employs smart stake flow management to preserve APY and user experience:
Automatically allocated evenly or fills gaps across validators with lower relative TVL.
Ensures balanced exposure and fairness across the Select set.
SOL is withdrawn from a limited number of validators to reduce operational overhead.
Remaining stake is rebalanced over time to maintain user allocation consistency.
This dynamic system avoids fragmentation and improves long-term capital efficiency.
To remain in Marinade Select, validators must:
Maintain high performance and uptime
Operate in compliance with Marinade’s security and operational standards
Respond promptly to events such as incoming stake or low bond balance alerts
Non-compliance can lead to removal from the set and loss of bond funds.
Q: Can I join Marinade Select if I’m already in the Stake Auction Marketplace?
Yes, but you’ll need to complete a separate vetting process, pass KYC, and post a validator bond specific to Marinade Select.
Q: What happens if I want to exit Marinade Select?
You’ll need to notify the Marinade team. Once your validator is removed from the Select set, you can initiate the bond withdrawal process.
Monitor Stake Distribution:
Validator Bond CLI:
CLI Source Code: