Marinade Borrow, explained

Borrow against your SOL without giving up staking rewards. This guide covers how Marinade Borrow works, what every number on the screen means, and what to check before you open a position.

Most borrow products on Solana start the same way. You deposit collateral, then you borrow against it. Two separate steps, two separate decisions.

Marinade Borrow flips this. You tell Marinade how much you want to borrow, and Marinade assembles the collateral for you from assets you already hold. Your collateral is held as mSOL, so it keeps earning staking rewards the whole time it backs your loan.

Under the hood, Marinade Borrow is not a new lending market. A smart routing engine places your position on established Solana lending venues, currently Kamino and Jupiter Lend, and gives you one clean interface on top. Marinade handles the collateral logistics. The venue holds the position and sets the market parameters.

You start with how much you want to borrow

When you need a loan, you think about how much you need. You don't think about how much collateral to post first.

Marinade Borrow follows that mental model. Instead of asking "how much do you want to deposit," it asks "how much do you want to borrow." Once you enter that number, Marinade calculates the collateral needed to back it and sources it from what you already have, in this order:

1. Idle mSOL. mSOL sitting in your wallet.
2. Stake accounts you manage yourself. SOL you have staked outside Marinade, largest account first.
3. Marinade staking positions. Your existing stake with Marinade, largest account first.
4. Idle SOL. SOL sitting in your wallet.

This waterfall also sets your max borrow: the most you can borrow right now. It reflects the total collateral you have available across these four sources.

You always see exactly what Marinade plans to use before you confirm. Nothing moves until you approve the transaction.

Your collateral becomes mSOL

This is the most important thing to understand before you borrow.

Whatever Marinade sources as collateral is converted to mSOL, Marinade's liquid staking token. The key word is sources. Borrow converts the minimum reasonable amount needed to back your loan, nothing more. If you have a large Native position and take a small loan, only a slice of that position becomes mSOL. The rest stays exactly where it was, as native stake in your own accounts. How much gets converted depends on the size of your loan. One exception: splitting a stake account has to leave at least 1 SOL behind in the source account, so a small loan backed by a small stake account can end up using the whole account rather than a slice of it.

There is a real benefit to the mSOL form. mSOL earns staking rewards continuously, so your collateral keeps working while it backs your loan. That yield is what makes a positive net APY (annual percentage yield) possible.

There is also a tradeoff worth understanding. mSOL is issued by Marinade's liquid staking smart contracts, and the converted portion of your stake carries that smart contract exposure for as long as the loan is open. It also sits in the lending venue's contracts for the life of the position. If you stake through Marinade Native to keep contract exposure minimal, this is the effect to weigh: your loan is backed by mSOL, sized to the loan, while the rest of your position stays native. The app shows you exactly what will be converted before you confirm.

Where your position lives

Marinade Borrow aggregates lending venues rather than running its own. When you open a position, a smart routing engine places it on the venue offering the best rates for your market. Today that means Kamino or Jupiter Lend, with more protocols coming.

The venues are chosen deliberately. These are vetted, audited lending systems with more than $1B in deposited assets, not experimental markets. Marinade builds the borrowing experience on top; the battle-tested infrastructure underneath stays where it is.

This structure matters because the venue, not Marinade, defines the market parameters: the maximum loan-to-value, the liquidation threshold, and the variable borrow rate. Different venues and different markets have different values. The app always shows you the exact parameters of the market your position sits in, and those numbers are the ones that count.

Pairs: what you borrow against mSOL

Your collateral is always mSOL. What you borrow against it shapes your risk profile.

Borrowing SOL against mSOL is what Marinade calls a price-bound pair. mSOL's value is derived from SOL, and the two move together. mSOL only appreciates against SOL through staking rewards. A broad market crash moves your collateral and your debt in lockstep, so it doesn't push you toward liquidation the way a volatile pair would. The main thing that moves your loan-to-value over time is interest slowly accruing on your debt. This is why price-bound markets can safely support much higher loan-to-value ratios than you'd see elsewhere in DeFi (decentralized finance).

Borrowing a stablecoin against mSOL works differently. Your collateral is priced in SOL terms and your debt is priced in dollars, so a drop in SOL's price raises your loan-to-value directly. These markets carry genuine price risk and typically come with more conservative parameters. If you borrow in a stablecoin market, watch your position the way you would on any lending protocol.

The app shows which pairs are live and the parameters for each.

The core numbers

Collateral: The mSOL backing your loan, shown at its current value. When you add funds to the position, the app calls that a deposit. Once it's in, it's all the same thing: your collateral. The value moves with the mSOL/SOL rate and grows with staking rewards.

Debt: What you owe: the amount you borrowed plus the interest that has accrued since, at the borrow APY.

LTV (loan-to-value): Your debt as a share of your collateral, right now:

LTV = Debt / Collateral

This moves over time as interest accrues, as your collateral earns rewards, and as prices shift.

Liquidation LTV: The threshold at which your position becomes eligible for liquidation. It's set by the lending venue and differs by market and pair. The app shows the exact value for your position. Your goal is simple: keep your LTV below it.

LTV health: A plain-language label that tells you at a glance how close your LTV is to the liquidation threshold. It's a Marinade convenience label, not a protocol parameter. Healthy means you have buffer. The closer the label gets to the warning end, the closer you are to liquidation, and the more it makes sense to repay some debt or add collateral.

Supply APY: The annual yield your collateral earns by being held as mSOL. This is Marinade's staking APY. It accrues whether or not you've borrowed against it.

Borrow APY: The annual interest rate on your debt. It's variable and set by the lending venue based on supply and demand in that market. Marinade doesn't set it.

Net APY: The overall rate on your position. It's the weighted difference between what your collateral earns and what your debt costs, respecting the size of each side:

Net APY = (Supply APY x Collateral - Borrow APY x Debt) / Collateral

Supply APY applies to your full collateral value and borrow APY applies to your debt, so the two are rarely the same size. A position with plenty of collateral relative to debt can show a positive net APY even when the borrow rate exceeds the supply rate. It's a live rate, not a guarantee, and it moves as both APYs and your ratio move.

Liquidation, plainly

If your LTV crosses the liquidation threshold, the lending venue's liquidation mechanism can repay part of your debt by selling part of your collateral, usually with a penalty. You keep the rest of the position, but you lose value.

In a price-bound SOL market, LTV drifts up slowly through interest, so liquidation is something you manage on the timescale of weeks and months, not minutes. In a stablecoin market, price moves can get you there fast.

Two ways to stay clear of the threshold:

• Repay debt. Lowers the numerator.
• Add collateral. Raises the denominator.

Both are available in the app at any time.

Managing and closing your position

You can repay part or all of your debt whenever you want. There are no fixed terms and no repayment schedule. Interest simply accrues while the debt is open.

When you repay in full, your collateral is released back to you as mSOL. You can hold it, use it elsewhere, or unstake it back to SOL through Marinade, either instantly or through the standard unstaking cooldown. Note that positions opened from native stake or idle SOL come back as mSOL, not in their original form.

FAQ

What do I need to start? A Solana wallet with SOL, mSOL, or an existing staking position. Marinade Borrow calculates your max borrow from what it finds.

Does borrowing stop my staking rewards? No. Your collateral is mSOL, which earns Marinade's staking APY the entire time your loan is open. That's the point of the design.

Can I keep my Marinade Native position and still borrow? Yes, for the most part. Only the portion needed to back your loan gets converted to mSOL, sized to the loan you take. A small loan against a large Native position leaves most of it untouched and native. You can use both products together, as long as you understand that the collateral slice is held as mSOL while the loan is open.

Who sets the interest rate? The lending venue your position sits on. Borrow APY is variable and follows supply and demand in that market. Marinade shows it to you but doesn't control it.

Which protocol will my loan end up on? The routing engine picks the venue with the best rates for your market at the time you open the position, currently Kamino or Jupiter Lend. The app shows you where your position lives, and more protocols are coming.

Why is my LTV allowed to be so high in the SOL market? Because mSOL and SOL are price-bound. The pair doesn't have the volatility risk that forces conservative ratios in ordinary lending markets. The remaining risk is interest accrual, which moves slowly and predictably.

What happens if I do nothing? Interest keeps accruing and your LTV drifts upward, while staking rewards on your collateral partially offset it. Left alone long enough, any position with debt can eventually reach the liquidation threshold. Check in periodically, or set a comfortable buffer from the start.

Can I get liquidated even if the market doesn't move? Yes, eventually, through interest accrual alone if you never repay or add collateral. This is slow in price-bound markets, but it's not zero.

What are the risks? Smart contract risk on Marinade's liquid staking contracts and the lending venue's contracts. Liquidation risk if your LTV crosses the threshold. Variable rate risk, since borrow APY can rise. And in stablecoin markets, price risk on SOL.

What does Marinade charge? The costs you see in the app are the ones that apply: the venue's borrow APY on your debt, plus any fees shown at transaction time. There are no hidden charges beyond what's displayed before you confirm.

Where do I see the exact parameters for my position? In the app, on your position screen. Every number that matters, including your LTV, the liquidation threshold, and both APYs, is shown live for the specific market your position sits in.