How Marinade Went from Hackathon OG's to Wall Street w/ Michael Repetny
In this episode, Austin chats with Michael Repetny, a core contributor to Marinade. They discuss the history and technical details of Marinade, its role in the Solana ecosystem, and its approach to staking. Michael covers Marinade's origins in a 2021 hackathon, the development of its custom stake pool contract, and its early competition with Lido. The conversation addresses the evolution of validator economics on Solana, the impact of MEV and priority fees, and Marinade's response to sandwich attacks. They also discuss the protocol's products, including its liquid staking token (mSOL) and Marinade Native, a non-custodial delegation service. The episode concludes with a discussion on preparing for institutional adoption, the role of LSTs in ETFs, and the process of getting SOC 2 compliance. 00:00 – Marinade’s Origins and Early Days 03:11 – Building on Solana 07:09 – Competing with Lido and the Importance of Community 10:59 – The Changing Economics of Staking 14:45 – Stake Pools, Yield, and Market Transparency 19:17 – The Marinade Marketplace 23:21 – Protected Staking Rewards & Validator Bonds 27:19 – Marinade Native 32:18 – ETFs, Institutions, and the Future of Staking 38:34 – Security, Compliance, and SOC 2 in Crypto 43:59 – The Future of Marinade and Solana Staking 46:59 – How to Get Involved with Marinade & Closing
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How Marinade Went from Hackathon OG's to Wall Street w/ Michael Repetny
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