Marinade’s MNDE gains 30% amid Solana DeFi revival, new gov initiative

Marinade’s MNDE token surged 30% after unveiling instant SOL withdrawals and a new creator rewards program, as Solana’s DeFi activity rebounds.

Marinade’s governance token MNDE (MNDE) shot up nearly 30%, briefly hitting $0.17, as the Solana-based liquid staking protocol rolled out a wave of updates aimed at reviving community engagement and token utility.

While it’s tough to pin the rally on a single catalyst, the timing lines up with several major developments.

On May 15, Marinade’s DAO approved MIP.11, a proposal to direct 40% of performance fees from its Stake Auction Marketplace toward MNDE buybacks. Once implemented, the move could see the DAO purchasing the equivalent of about 12% of MNDE’s market cap annually, potentially adding steady buy pressure on the open market.

Other updates that may have boosted sentiment include the launch of instant unstaking for SOL — letting users skip Solana’s usual cooldown period — and a new creator rewards program aimed at supporting content contributors and community builders. These follow the late April rollout of MNDE-Enhanced Staking, which allocates 10% of SAM’s performance fees to active MNDE holders.

These follow the launch of MNDE-Enhanced Staking in late April, which gives MNDE holders a 10% share of SAM’s performance fees, encouraging deeper participation in governance.

All this also comes as activity across Solana’s DeFi ecosystem picks up. Total value locked on the network has surged more than 50% in the past month, climbing from $6.2 billion to over $9.3 billion, according to DefiLlama, bringing it close to the all-time highs set in January.

Marinade remains one of the largest liquid staking protocols on Solana, with more than $1.85 billion in TVL. Backed by the Solana Foundation and early investors like Serum, the protocol offers the mSOL liquid staking token, while MNDE powers governance decisions across the DAO.