Marinade Labs: Solana Hackathon to Billion-Dollar Staking Platform | Michael Repetny, Co-Founder

The Index Podcast

What if staking could be seamless, secure and DeFi-friendly? In this episode of The Index, host Alex Kehaya talks with Michael Repetny, Co-founder and CEO of Marinade Finance, the largest staking protocol on Solana with over $1.5 billion in crypto assets under management.

Michael shares the remarkable journey behind Marinade—from a scrappy Solana hackathon project to a cornerstone of Solana’s infrastructure. Built by a team that turned down VC funding and acquisition offers, Marinade’s community-first ethos helped it scale organically while staying aligned with Solana’s mission of decentralization.

To help demystify staking, Michael breaks it down with an easy-to-grasp analogy: Solana is a representative democracy—validators act as political parties processing transactions, while token holders are citizens who delegate their voting power. Marinade leveled up this system with liquid staking, empowering users to earn staking rewards while staying active in DeFi. It’s like earning yield without locking up your assets—having your cake and eating it too.

The conversation also dives into Marinade’s evolving product suite:

• mSOL – the OG liquid staking token
• Marinade Native – a no-smart-contract solution that stakes directly with validators
• Marinade Select – tailored for institutions prioritizing compliance and transparency

These innovations are positioning Marinade as the go-to staking partner as Solana matures, financial institutional interest grows, and ETF discussions heat up.

Whether you’re building in Solana, buying tokens, or just want your assets to work harder—this is a conversation you don’t want to miss.

🎧 Listen now to unlock the next chapter of crypto staking.

🔗 Marinade: marinade.finance
🐦 Marinade X: @MarinadeFinance

Ready to make your crypto assets work harder? Listen now to understand the future of digital asset yield generation.

Show Links
The Index
X Channel
YouTube

Chapters

1. Introduction to Marinade Finance (00:00:00)

2. Michael's Journey to Crypto (00:01:44)

3. Explaining Staking on Solana (00:06:28)

4. Building Marinade from First Principles (00:12:16)

5. Marinade Native: A Smart Contract Alternative (00:20:55)

6. Institutional Adoption and Future Direction (00:25:39)

7. Staking as the Savings Account of Web3 (00:29:17)