Calculate Solana Staking Rewards

Solana staking is the process of locking up SOL tokens and delegating them to a validator on the network in exchange for new SOL tokens issued as rewards. Proof-of-Stake blockchains like Solana use stake to secure the network. Staking rewards are distributed once per epoch (approximately every 2 days), or automatically accrue to Liquid Staking Tokens (LSTs) like Helius's hSOL token.

Solana staking rewards are calculated by adding together your share of a validator's issuance rewards, MEV rewards, and in some cases, block rewards, minus any validator commission fees. Rewards are based on Solana's inflation rate, staking ratio, the total amount of SOL staked to your validator of choice, your share of the staked SOL, and the validator's performance.

Validators charge a fee, or commission, on the staking rewards they earn. This percentage is deducted from your gross rewards before they are paid out to you, directly impacting your net APY. Validators that charge fees typically charge them on inflation rewards and MEV rewards. 0% commission validators like Helius pass all inflation and MEV rewards back to the stakers.

Native staking is the process of delegating SOL tokens directly to a validator through a stake account. Native staking rewards are automatically shared with you at the end of an epoch, and MEV rewards can be harvested through Jito. Liquid staking is the process of swapping SOL for a Liquid Staking Token (LST) like hSOL which represents your share of the validator's total stake. LSTs automatically accumulate inflation and MEV rewards.

Newly issued SOL from Solana staking rewards are automatically deposited back into the stake account that earned them at the end of each epoch. As soon as the SOL rewards are deposited into your account, they become part of your active stake for the next epoch, thereby you'll be earning rewards on a slightly larger principal. MEV rewards accrue separately and must be claimed through Jito. Liquid Staking Tokens compound by automatically accruing staking and MEV rewards to the LST, increasing its price.

Solana’s current inflation rate is 4.349%. Solana started at an 8% inflation rate and decreases approximately 15% per epoch year (~182.5 epochs) with a target long-term inflation rate of 1.5%.

You can delegate stake to Helius’s validator natively or through a Liquid Staking Token. To natively stake to our validator, use our staking portal, stake directly through wallets like Phantom, or stake through qualified custodians like BitGo. To stake to our validator through an LST, you can swap SOL for hSOL on most major Decentralized Exchanges.

Entities with large amounts of SOL (over 80,000 SOL tokens) should consider running a white label validator. The primary benefit of running your own validator through a Validator-as-a-Service provider, such as Helius, is to earn a higher staking APY. By running your own public or private validator, you keep the block rewards (i.e. base fees and priority fees), and earn more rewards.

Unstaking usually takes up to 2 days. First, stakers must deactivate their stake, and once the current epoch ends, they can withdraw their SOL from the stake account. During the deactivation period, your SOL tokens are not available for trading or transferring to another wallet. If you want the ability to immediately unstake SOL tokens, consider using a Liquid Staking Token like Helius’s hSOL.