Solayer Opens Restaking Deposits on Solana

Solayer, a startup aiming to build a restaking ecosystem on Solana, launched its invite-only restaking deposits on Thursday afternoon. The initial deposit period was capped at $20 million, allowing users to restake SOL or deposit liquid staking products such as mSOL, bSOL, JITOSOL, and INF. This private access launch positions Solayer as a key player in the race to establish a restaking framework on the Solana blockchain.

While few Solana restaking protocols have gone live, Picasso is notable for its own version of Solana restaking. The excitement surrounding these protocols was evident when Solayer hit its $20 million cap within 45 minutes of opening deposits, as confirmed by a member of the Solayer core team to Blockworks. The interest isn’t limited to individual investors; Solayer is also seeking to raise $8 million at an $80 million valuation, led by Polychain, as reported by CoinDesk.

Despite the rapid uptake, little is known about the company. Solayer has revealed that the protocol has “been in the works since the end of 2023” in a blog post, referring to the initial deposit period as “epoch 0.” The restaked assets will be locked in the protocol until “epoch 3.” A roadmap posted by Solayer on Wednesday indicates that a liquid restaking token, sSOL, will launch in epoch 6. Although the duration of each epoch has not been disclosed, it is confirmed that sSOL will be a Liquid Restaking Token (LRT).

Restaking involves using staked tokens that secure proof-of-stake blockchains to secure another layer of applications, essentially staking the staked tokens a second time. This method extends the security of the blockchain’s base layer and puts idle staked assets to use, creating additional yield opportunities. By distributing security responsibilities across multiple layers, restaking enhances network resilience and maximizes the utility of staked tokens.

The Solana blockchain is secured by a combination of proof-of-stake and proof-of-history, making it suitable for the application of restaking. The concept of restaking was pioneered on Ethereum by EigenLayer, which has raised over $150 million in venture funding and secured over $14 billion in total value locked (TVL), according to DeFiLlama.

Solayer’s move to bring restaking to Solana marks a significant development in the blockchain ecosystem. In a blog post, Solayer expressed its excitement and ambition to lead the movement of “scaling out” of the Solana base chain in the coming year.