Solana PoS Staking Revolution: The Rise of Sanctum

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The world of blockchain staking is evolving rapidly, and Solana is at the forefront of this transformation. While Ethereum’s liquid staking landscape has long been dominated by protocols like Lido, Solana is charting a different course — one defined by decentralization, innovation, and accessibility. At the heart of this shift stands Sanctum, a groundbreaking protocol redefining how users stake, earn, and interact with their assets.

With Solana’s native support for flexible staking and a growing DeFi ecosystem, the stage is set for a new era of liquid staking tokens (LSTs). Sanctum isn’t just another staking pool — it's an infrastructure layer enabling anyone — from individual validators to major projects — to launch and sustain competitive LSTs without the burden of liquidity bootstrapping.

Let’s explore how Sanctum is reshaping Solana’s staking economy and why its model could be the blueprint for truly decentralized liquid staking.

Understanding PoS and Liquid Staking Basics

Before diving into Sanctum, it's essential to understand the foundation: Proof-of-Stake (PoS).

In PoS blockchains like Solana and Ethereum, security is maintained by validators who lock up (or "stake") native tokens — SOL or ETH — as collateral. These validators are responsible for processing transactions and creating new blocks. In return, they earn rewards in the form of block subsidies and transaction fees.

Key concepts include:

While staking offers passive income, it traditionally locks up capital. Enter liquid staking — a solution that allows users to maintain liquidity while earning staking rewards.

Liquid staking protocols issue Liquid Staking Tokens (LSTs) — tokenized representations of staked assets. For example:

These LSTs can be traded, used as collateral in DeFi, or leveraged across protocols — unlocking capital efficiency without sacrificing yield.

👉 Discover how leading platforms are transforming staking yields into real-world utility.

Why Solana’s Staking Landscape Is Unique

Solana differs from Ethereum in several critical ways that shape its liquid staking dynamics:

  1. No Minimum Stake Requirement
    Unlike Ethereum’s 32 ETH threshold, users can stake any amount of SOL directly through wallets like Phantom or Backpack.
  2. Native Delegation Support
    Solana supports direct delegation without requiring third-party protocols, reducing reliance on centralized pools.
  3. No Active Slashing Mechanism (Yet)
    This lowers the risk barrier for choosing validators, making individual staking safer and more accessible.
  4. High Native Staking Ratio
    Over 70% of circulating SOL is already staked — far surpassing Ethereum’s ~27%.

Despite high staking adoption, LSTs represent only ~6% of staked SOL, compared to over 40% on Ethereum. Why?

Because early LST models — like Lido’s stSOL — failed to solve pressing needs on Solana. The ecosystem didn’t require a middleman when direct staking was already simple and efficient.

However, as Solana’s DeFi space matures, demand for capital-efficient solutions is rising. That’s where Jito and now Sanctum come in.

Jito and the Emergence of MEV-Driven Staking

Jito pioneered a new model combining liquid staking with MEV (Maximal Extractable Value) capture. By optimizing transaction ordering, Jito increases validator revenue — translating into higher yields for JitoSOL holders.

Jito’s success stems from:

Today, JitoSOL dominates Solana’s LST market with billions in TVL. But dominance brings concerns: centralization risks, ecosystem lock-in, and validator concentration — echoing debates around Lido on Ethereum.

This sets the stage for a new kind of protocol: one not aiming to dominate, but to empower competition.

Introducing Sanctum: Redefining Liquid Staking Infrastructure

Sanctum was built with a mission: prevent monopolistic control over Solana staking and enable a diverse, open LST ecosystem.

Rather than operating its own LST, Sanctum provides foundational tools that allow anyone — validators, projects, or individuals — to launch viable LSTs without needing deep liquidity or technical overhead.

Its core insight?

All LSTs are interchangeable because they represent the same underlying asset: locked SOL in stake accounts.

This seemingly simple idea unlocks powerful possibilities.

Sanctum Reserve: Instant Liquidity Without Deep Pools

Traditionally, users redeem LSTs either by:

  1. Waiting through the 2–4 day unbonding period
  2. Trading on DEXs (if sufficient liquidity exists)

But low-liquidity LSTs suffer high slippage or become unusable.

Enter Sanctum Reserve — a $30M+ SOL-backed pool that enables instant redemption of any LST.

Here’s how it works:

This model is vastly more capital-efficient than traditional DEX pools:

👉 See how next-gen liquidity layers are changing DeFi access forever.

Sanctum Router: Frictionless Cross-LST Swaps

Even with redemption solved, swapping between LSTs remains challenging — especially for smaller tokens.

Sanctum Router, built with Jupiter, solves this by enabling seamless exchanges between any two LSTs in a single transaction.

Behind the scenes:

  1. Extract stake account from input LST
  2. Destroy source LST
  3. Re-delegate stake to target validator
  4. Mint new LST
  5. Deliver to user wallet

Because all LSTs are backed by compatible stake accounts, this process is efficient and low-cost.

Result? Even niche LSTs gain instant interoperability and utility across DeFi.

Together, Reserve + Router have facilitated over 2.2 million SOL in volume — proving demand for open infrastructure.

The Rise of Validator-Specific LSTs

Thanks to Sanctum, even small validators can now compete with giants like Jito.

Examples include:

These aren’t just yield plays — they’re brand-building tools. Validators differentiate themselves through perks, transparency, and community involvement.

And because Sanctum handles liquidity, they focus on what matters: performance and trust.

Project & Infrastructure-Led LST Innovation

Beyond validators, major Solana players are launching their own LSTs:

Helius (hSOL)

As a leading RPC provider, Helius runs a validator to ensure fast data access. hSOL holders get full yield (zero commission), and future plans may include RPC credit rewards.

Jupiter (jupSOL)

Jupiter’s validator improves transaction propagation speed. jupSOL offers some of the highest yields on Solana — boosted by an additional 100,000 SOL delegation. It attracted over $150M TVL within weeks.

Public Goods & NFT Projects

These experiments show how LSTs can align incentives across communities, treasuries, and ecosystems.

SocialFi Meets Staking: Personal LSTs

One of the most exciting frontiers? Individuals issuing personal LSTs.

Take fpSOL, launched by Sanctum founder FP Lee:

Imagine influencers, creators, or developers launching their own LSTs — offering exclusive content, governance rights, or revenue-sharing models.

Unlike volatile memecoins or speculative NFTs, personal LSTs offer sustainable monetization backed by real yield.

Sanctum Infinity: A Multi-LST Yield Aggregator

Sanctum’s latest innovation is Infinity, a multi-LST liquidity pool designed for maximum capital efficiency.

Key features:

By eliminating reliance on external pricing mechanisms, Infinity ensures accurate valuations regardless of trading volume — ideal for bootstrapping new LSTs.

Since launch, Sanctum’s total TVL has surpassed $500 million, ranking it among Solana’s top five protocols.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q: What makes Sanctum different from other liquid staking protocols?
A: Unlike traditional protocols that operate their own LSTs (like Lido or Jito), Sanctum provides open infrastructure that empowers others to launch and scale LSTs efficiently and sustainably.

Q: Can I stake any amount of SOL using Sanctum?
A: Yes! Thanks to Solana’s no-minimum-stake design and Sanctum’s tools, even small amounts can be used to mint or trade LSTs seamlessly.

Q: Is there slashing risk when using Sanctum?
A: No direct slashing risk to users. Validators bear slashing penalties. However, always research validator reliability before delegating.

Q: How does Sanctum make money?
A: Through dynamic fees on Reserve redemptions and swap fees in the Infinity pool. Revenue supports protocol sustainability and development.

Q: Are there risks in holding smaller LSTs?
A: Smart contract risk exists across DeFi. However, Sanctum reduces liquidity risk significantly via its universal reserve and routing system.

Q: Can non-technical users benefit from Sanctum?
A: Absolutely. End users interact with familiar interfaces (like Jupiter) while benefiting from enhanced liquidity and redemption options behind the scenes.

Final Thoughts: Democratizing Staking Access

Sanctum represents a paradigm shift — moving away from winner-takes-all models toward an open, composable staking ecosystem.

Where Ethereum consolidated around a few dominant players, Solana is fostering innovation at every level: individual validators, infrastructure providers, social creators, and public goods initiatives.

By solving the liquidity bottleneck and enabling frictionless interoperability between LSTs, Sanctum lowers barriers to entry and promotes true decentralization.

As more projects adopt custom LSTs and personal staking brands emerge, we may witness the birth of a new financial layer — where identity, utility, and yield converge on-chain.

The future of staking isn’t just about earning returns — it’s about ownership, participation, and empowerment. And with protocols like Sanctum leading the charge, that future is already unfolding on Solana.

👉 Explore how decentralized finance is redefining digital ownership today.