Solayer

Solayer is a restaking protocol on Solana that allows SOL stakers to earn additional yield by securing decentralized applications (dApps) and services beyond the base Solana consensus layer. Inspired by EigenLayer on Ethereum, Solayer introduces the concept of restaking to the Solana ecosystem — users deposit SOL or liquid staking tokens (LSTs) and "restake" them to provide economic security for protocols that need it. The core idea behind Solayer is that Solana's economic security — the billions of dollars in staked SOL — can be repurposed to secure additional services. Instead of every new protocol having to bootstrap its own validator set and security budget, they can tap into Solayer's restaked SOL. This creates a shared security model where restakers earn yield from multiple sources simultaneously: base staking rewards plus additional rewards from the protocols they help secure. Solayer supports both native SOL restaking and LST restaking (JitoSOL, mSOL, bSOL, etc.), giving users flexibility in how they participate. When users deposit assets into Solayer, they receive sSOL (Solayer SOL), a liquid restaking token that can be used across DeFi while still earning restaking rewards. This composability means restakers don't have to choose between security provision and DeFi participation. The protocol introduces Actively Validated Services (AVSs) — the applications and services that leverage restaked security. These can include oracle networks, cross-chain bridges, data availability layers, and other infrastructure that benefits from strong economic guarantees. Each AVS sets its own reward structure, allowing restakers to choose which services to back based on risk and return profiles. Solayer's architecture is designed to be capital-efficient, leveraging Solana's native staking mechanism rather than building a separate consensus layer. The protocol has attracted significant TVL since launch, reflecting strong demand for restaking yields in the Solana ecosystem. It's backed by prominent investors including Polychain Capital and has become one of the fastest-growing DeFi protocols on Solana. For the broader Solana ecosystem, Solayer represents an important infrastructure primitive that could enable a new generation of secured applications, similar to how restaking has catalyzed innovation on Ethereum. The protocol is positioned at the intersection of staking, security, and DeFi composability.