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