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Lesson 9 of 16 · 4 min read

Native staking

How a stake account works on Solana, why you wait for the end of an epoch, how to choose a validator and what commission and MEV mean.

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In this lesson

  • find out how native staking and a stake account work
  • understand why staking starts and ends with an epoch
  • learn to choose a validator by commission, reliability and size

Staking on Solana is not a bank savings account. It is more like a ballot you entrust to a validator: it votes with it and writes blocks, and you get a share of the reward. Your SOL stays in your account all the while – the validator cannot spend it.

epoch 1epoch 2epoch 3A reward every epoch.
Staking rewards arrive with every epoch – and unstaking follows the same rhythm.

How it works#

  1. In your wallet you create a stake account and put SOL into it.
  2. You delegate the account to a validator – the SOL still belongs to you; the validator only gains its voting weight.
  3. At the start of the next epoch (with the shorter slots from October 2026, within about a day) the stake activates and starts earning.
  4. Rewards arrive every epoch straight into the stake account and are staked automatically.
  5. When you want the SOL back, you deactivate the stake. At the end of the epoch you can withdraw it.

When large amounts across the network want to unstake at once, the wait can take several epochs. So you cannot react instantly with staked SOL – in a sharp price drop you cannot sell it right away.

How to choose a validator#

  • Commission. The validator takes a percentage of the rewards – usually 0 to 10%. Watch out for validators that unexpectedly raise their commission to 100%; then you get nothing. Keep an eye on it after delegating too.
  • Reliability. A validator that drops out or votes slowly earns less – and you with it.
  • MEV. Users pay validators tips to get their transactions ordered first. That is called MEV (value that can be extracted from the order of transactions). Some validators share it with stakers – there is a commission here too.
  • Size. The biggest validators have the most votes. Delegating to a smaller reliable validator helps decentralisation.

Overviews of validators with their commission, performance and history are on public Solana data sites.

Risks#

  • Price risk – staking in SOL does not offset a fall in the price of SOL.
  • Waiting – unstaking takes days.
  • The validator – at the time of writing Solana has no automatic penalty that takes away stake, as you may know from other networks. With a bad validator you "only" lose rewards. The rules may change, though.
  • Staking on an exchange is convenient, but the exchange then holds your SOL. If it goes bankrupt, like FTX in 2022, you can lose it.

The yield is not guaranteed

The staking yield (around 5–6% a year at the time of writing) changes with inflation, the amount of staked SOL and the validator's commission. And since it is counted in SOL, the result in your own currency depends mainly on the price.

Common myths#

  • "The validator can run off with my SOL." It cannot – you control the stake account.
  • "I will unstake and sell right away." You wait until the end of the epoch, sometimes longer.
  • "Highest yield = best validator." Also watch the commission, reliability and whether it gets raised.

Summary

  • Native staking: a stake account delegated to a validator; the SOL stays yours.
  • Activation and deactivation happen at epoch boundaries (about a day), sometimes longer.
  • Choose a validator by commission, reliability, MEV sharing and size.
  • Risks: the price of SOL, waiting, the validator's behaviour and, on exchanges, custody.