Top 8 Solana Staking Statistics and Trends

1. Over 68% of Solana’s Total Supply is Staked

As of September 2024, 67.93% of Solana’s total supply (390.81 million SOL) is staked across the network by a total of 1,642 active validators. Among them, the top 25 control 41.5% of the total staked supply. The top 5 largest validators are:

1. Helius (3.5%), an RPC and API developer platform
2. Galaxy (3.3%), a blockchain Venture Capital firm
3. Coinbase Cloud 02 (3.2%), a centralized crypto exchange
4. Figment (2.7%), a provider of staking infrastructure for institutions
5. Ledger (2.5%), a hardware crypto wallet

‍

2. Solana Liquid Staking is Gaining Ground

Native SOL staking remains the preferred method for the majority of stakers, accounting for 93.5% of the 390.81 million SOL staked as of September 2024. However, Liquid Staking Tokens (LSTs) are steadily gaining traction, now making up 6.5% of the total staked supply, with 25.34 million SOL locked in liquid staking protocols.

Among LST providers, JitoSOL holds 3.4% of the total staked SOL, followed by mSOL at 1.3%, with other LSTs like bSOL and jupSOL rounding out the rest. While LSTs are still a smaller slice of the staking ecosystem, they are growing as stakers seek more flexibility, with integrations across decentralized exchanges on Solana and lending protocols.

Although the sector is growing on Solana, its liquid staking participation remains significantly lower than Ethereum's, where over 42% of all staked ETH is involved in liquid staking.

‍

3. JitoSOL Dominates Liquid Staking with 53.7% Market Share

Let’s now look at the relative values for better visualization. Among liquid staking tokens (LSTs), JitoSOL ranks highest in the pack with a commanding 53.7% market share.

By September 2024, JitoSOL has accumulated 13.33 million SOL in staked assets, outpacing its closest competitors like mSOL, which holds 20.3%, and jupSOL, which accounts for 8.8%.

‍

4. LSTs Market Cap and Staked Ratio Aren't Linear

One interesting trend is that the growth in Solana's LSTs market cap isn’t directly proportional to the change in their staking ratio. Let’s break it down with key examples from September 19 of the last 3 years:

• 2022: The LST staking ratio stood at 3.19% with a market cap of $340 million (SOL priced at $31).
• 2023: Despite the ratio dropping to 2.5%, the market cap also decreased to $192 million (SOL at $19.9).
• 2024: While the staking ratio increased to 6.54%, the LST market cap soared to $3.54 billion, which is 10x higher than in 2022, but the staking ratio itself only grew by around 2x.

This shows that while the LST market cap can grow exponentially, the staking ratio itself does not scale at the same rate, highlighting a non-linear relationship between the two.

‍

5. Jupiter and Jito Gained The Most Stakers in 2024

When it comes to the number of stakers (>10 SOL), Jito and Jupiter saw a sudden spike in April 2024. As of September, JitoSOL has 7,906 accounts, while jupSOL follows with 3,451 stakers.

Other LSTs like mSOL and bSOL continue to grow steadily, but JitoSOL and jupSOL are clearly racing ahead, cementing their positions as top players in Solana staking.

‍

6. Over 54% of Solana’s Lending Protocols Value is From LSTs

Lending protocols account for the majority of LST DeFi use cases on Solana with a total value of $772.7 million, representing a 54.3% ratio for the sector.

Solend leads the way, with 64.5% of its total value in LSTs, while other prominent lending protocols include Marginfi, with 55.4%, and Kamino, with 51.7%. DEXs only have 8.4% of their $1.6 billion in LSTs.

‍

7. Jupiter and Kamino Hold the Largest DeFi Programs

Among Solana’s DeFi programs, Jupiter stands out with $343.1M in SOL, making it the top DEX by total value. Lending protocols like Kamino also have significant holdings, with $221.2M in JLP and $181.4M in JitoSOL vaults.

Other notable programs include Drift with $114.2M in JitoSOL, and Orca holding $82.9M in HMSTR tokens.

‍

8. Less Than 1% of Solana’s Staked Supply is Restaked

As of September 2024, only 0.29% of Solana's total staked supply, or 1.17 million SOL, is restaked via Solayer. While SOL restaking is still growing, tokens are concentrated in native restaking, which accounts for 74.4% of the total.

Other trending restaking asset choices are JitoSOL at 9.5%, Infinity (INF) at 8.1%, and Marinade (mSOL) at 7.3%.

‍

What is Solana Staking?

Solana staking allows users to lock up a minimum of 0.01 SOL to secure the network and earn rewards. Delegating your SOL to a validator helps maintain the network’s decentralization while generating passive income for the user. Unlike Ethereum staking, which requires 32 ETH to run a validator, Solana’s low entry barrier opens up staking to more participants.

Solana is also catching up to Ethereum in liquid staking narratives, allowing users to maintain liquidity while earning rewards. Though the total value locked (TVL) is still lower than Ethereum’s, Solana’s liquid staking and restaking options are slowly moving into the mainstream, stirring up user demand.

‍

Bottom Line

With over 68% of SOL staked and liquid staking derivatives claiming 6.5% of that total, Solana staking has grown into a complex and flexible system that balances security with liquidity.

As new trends like restaking arise, Solana is quietly shifting from straightforward staking to more intricate DeFi opportunities, enabling users to interact with the network in ways that were unheard of just a year ago. Whether through LSTs or DeFi projects like Jupiter and Kamino, stakers are finding new avenues to unlock additional rewards.