From native to liquid staking
Last updated
Last updated
When you choose liquid staking over native staking, the main difference is that a middleman, called a stake pool, is introduced between you and the validators. The stake pool essentially plays the same role as you would in native staking.
Instead of directly delegating your SOL to a validator, you send it to the stake pool. In return, you receive a receipt token, also known as a liquid staking token (LST), which represents your share of the total SOL in the stake pool.
The SOL in the stake pool is stored in a reserve stake account until it's delegated to one or more validators through the associated stake accounts.
At the start of each epoch, staking rewards are compounded into the stake accounts, which increases the total SOL value of the stake pool. This results in the appreciation of the LST relative to SOL. However, your share of the SOL in the pool remains the same, meaning you earn rewards through the increase in the LST:SOL exchange rate. Every epoch, your LST is worth more SOL.
If you’ve recently staked your SOL and received one of Sanctum's LSTs (including INF) in return, you might be wondering: “Why didn't I receive 1 LST for every SOL I staked?” It’s a common question—and a great one. Let’s break it down.
When you stake SOL with a liquid staking pool, you get an LST—a liquid staking token that keeps earning staking, block, and MEV rewards while sitting in your wallet. You can even use it in DeFi while it grows in value.
Unlike some other blockchains, your LST's balance doesn’t increase over time. On Solana, LSTs like INF are fixed in quantity—but their value grows, relative to SOL.
As validators that you stake to earn rewards, these rewards are distributed back to the stake pool. Instead of minting more LSTs, each LST represents a portion of the growing pool of SOL.
Over time, as staking rewards compound, LSTs gain value relative to SOL. So when you unstake, you’ll receive more SOL than you originally put in.
You can learn more about stake pools .
