Ecosystem Collective Launches Solana Staking Index to Benchmark Performance

A collective of leading staking protocols and analytics providers has launched the Solana Staking Index, a transparent platform designed to calculate a reliable baseline for staking rewards.

Using the SSI, Solana users will be able to verify whether their current staking positions are underperforming the network benchmark.

The Solana Staking Index draws inspiration from established TradFi equivalents, such as SOFR and the Fed Fund Rate.

Benchmarking Solana’s Staking Rate

The Solana Staking Index is a simplified, transparent benchmark representing the baseline yield rate stakers should expect to earn on their $SOL. Drawing on onchain data, the SSI is designed to serve as a reference point when judging the performance of the network’s various validators and LSTs (Liquid Staking Tokens).

With TradFi players taking greater interest in Solana than ever before, Marinade Finance CEO Michael Repetny asserts the absence of a reference rate represents a critical barrier to institutional adoption. 

"Solana staking has grown into a multi-billion dollar economy, but until now there's been no standardized way to measure what the network's baseline staking yield actually is. SSI changes that. It gives stakers, protocols, and institutions a single, transparent number to benchmark against — and it's built entirely on verifiable on-chain data." - Michael Repetný, Co-Founder and CEO of Marinade

Beyond providing a transparent benchmark for staking rewards, SSI also supports Solana DeFi by giving founders and operators a reliable reference upon which they can build meaningful protocols and applications.

The staking rate given by the Solana Staking Index is calculated each epoch, using onchain RPC calls to derive $SOL emissions and network block rewards. Calculated using an open source methodology, the SSI is intended to serve as a public good for the Solana ecosystem.

"We deliberately designed SSI to be protocol-neutral. This isn't any single protocol's product — it's an ecosystem tool. The more protocols and validators that adopt it as a benchmark, the more useful it becomes for everyone." - Michael Repetný, Co-Founder and CEO of Marinade

While issuance is calculated directly based on the current inflation rate and ratio of actively staked $SOL to circulating supply, block rewards are derived from network activity, primarily stemming from priority fees and base fees generated from transactions.

According to SSI documentation, MEV tips are not included in calculations. Given the discrepancy in tips between validators, tips have been excluded in order to provide a consistent benchmark that reflects the network’s core staking yield.

The Solana Staking Index has been crafted by a group of reputable operators from across the ecosystem, including Marinade Finance, Titan Analytics, stakefish, Layer33, and Chainflow.

Optimizing Your Stake

SSI lets users check the totality of any wallet’s staking positions and compare its performance against the network-wide benchmark. Additionally, stakers can opt in to receive email alerts on how their positions compare against the SSI rate.

One important caveat worth noting is that the SSI rate doesn’t account for any commission or platform fees collected by operators. The Solana Staking Index also maps Solana’s historical issuance and block rewards, mapping the SSI against wider network economics.

The Solana Staking Index has been launched in collaboration with a wealth of ecosystem leaders and prominent staking operators. Revtec.fi founder Max Sherwood anticipates that the SSI could unlock new usecases in Solana DeFi.

"A widely-accepted staking yield benchmark is the first step toward enabling new use cases: whether that be validators hedging against falling block rewards, or Solana's believers longing increased on-chain activity. Crypto's largest source of yield deserves a benchmark for interest rate swaps, index trading, and other products common in TradFi." - Max Sherwood, Founder at RevTec.fi

While unconfirmed, Sherwood’s comments hint at the possibility of future applications offering yield trading, or prediction markets, using the SSI as a reliable, standardized basis for staking rewards.

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