TL;DR:
- Solana has had the Solana Staking Index since February 2026, a transparent benchmark to measure staking performance on the network.
- The index is calculated each epoch using onchain data and excludes MEV tips to provide a consistent reference for the network’s base yield.
- Marinade Finance, Titan Analytics, stakefish, Layer33, and Chainflow are the organizations behind the development of the SSI.
A group of staking protocols and analytics providers launched the Solana Staking Index (SSI), an open-source platform designed to establish a transparent and standardized reference for the base yield users should expect when staking $SOL. The project involves five ecosystem organizations: Marinade Finance, Titan Analytics, stakefish, Layer33, and Chainflow.
The SSI draws inspiration from traditional financial system equivalents such as the SOFR rate and the Fed Funds Rate. The index is calculated each epoch from onchain RPC calls that allow $SOL emissions and network block rewards to be derived. The methodology is public and built entirely on verifiable on-chain data. MEV tips are excluded from the calculation, as their distribution varies significantly across validators and would distort the base reference the index aims to provide.
Michael Repetný, co-founder and CEO of Marinade Finance, noted that the absence of a reference rate represented a critical barrier to institutional adoption. “Staking on Solana has grown into a multi-billion dollar economy, but until now there was no standardized way to measure what the network’s real base yield is,” Repetný stated.
A Structural Index for the Ecosystem
Beyond its function as a reference for individual stakers, the SSI aims to become infrastructure for Solana‘s DeFi ecosystem. The tool allows protocol founders and operators to build applications on a standardized yield foundation. It also gives users the ability to compare the performance of their staking positions against the network benchmark and receive email alerts when their returns diverge from the index.
New Use Cases on the Solana Network
Max Sherwood, founder of RevTec.fi, suggested that a widely accepted benchmark could unlock new use cases, including interest rate swaps, hedging tools for validators against drops in block rewards, and prediction markets on onchain activity. Sherwood emphasized that staking on Solana is the largest yield source in the crypto industry and that it deserves the reference instruments that exist in traditional finance.
The SSI also incorporates a historical mapping of Solana’s emissions and block rewards, enabling analysis of their evolution over time.
Read the full article here