Marinade Native

This review reaches the same adverse assessment for Marinade Native that this registry already reached for mSOL because both use the same validator-selection process. Marinade Native is not a liquid staking token and issues no token at all. A client’s SOL always stays in an ordinary native stake account under the client’s own wallet withdraw authority. Marinade can only choose the validators that receive the delegated stake. That non-custodial structure is a real improvement over a pooled-contract liquid staking token, and this review credits it. But Native delegates through the same Stake Auction Marketplace that this registry’s existing mSOL memo found insufficient. It is a yield-ranked validator auction that previously gave delegation to a validator running sandwich attacks, the episode that led Marinade to issue its own MIP-9 governance response. A non-tokenized product that uses the same allocation process does not fix that finding. Separately, no source states whether anyone has admin or pause power over the delegation program itself or, if so, who holds that power.

Review triggers: events that reopen the verdict
• The SAM validator-selection process demonstrates sustained exclusion of low-quality or MEV-abusive validators, resolving the finding already documented in the mSOL entry
• Admin or pause authority over the Native delegation program is disclosed, including who holds it
• This entry is reopened only once the linked mSOL entry’s own reopen conditions are also met, since both share the same allocation mechanism

Watched nightly: a warning on its venues or files, or a cited document that changes, reopens the memo. The first confirmation is due 2026-11-19.

The research file

Mechanism

A user deposits SOL, and Marinade’s software manages delegation across validators for that user. The resulting stake account stays in the user’s own wallet, and the user keeps withdraw authority at all times. Marinade can redirect the delegation, but it cannot move or hold the underlying SOL. Validator selection uses the same Stake Auction Marketplace as mSOL. Validators bid for delegation, and the system ranks them by effective yield, which combines commission with the bid. It fills bids from the top down, subject to concentration caps for each validator, hosting provider, and country.

The inherited validator-selection finding

This registry’s existing mSOL entry records that Marinade’s SAM auction previously gave meaningful delegation to a validator later found to be running MEV sandwich attacks. The finding prompted Marinade to issue its own MIP-9 governance proposal in response. Native uses the same SAM process rather than a separate process that vets validators. The finding therefore applies here without any change. The delivery wrapper changed from a tokenized pool to a native delegation record, but the validator-quality check beneath it did not.

Legal structure and undisclosed control

Medium Rare Foundation, a foundation established in Panama, operates the Marinade platform, including Native. The MNDE token provides governance through Realms with a 30-day unlock. A 4-of-7 council multisig also holds day-to-day administrative power, according to this registry’s existing mSOL research. But no public document states whether that power, or any separate power, can pause or change Native’s delegation program in particular. This review also did not independently confirm the identities of the council’s signers.

Redemption

Native offers two exit paths. A delayed unstake can be claimed after one epoch (roughly 2-3 days) and carries no Marinade fee. An instant unstake converts the position directly to liquid SOL through a marketplace of liquidity providers. It charges a stated 0.10%-0.40% dynamic fee, and the amount received may be slightly below the nominal stake balance. Marinade discloses both working paths, unlike the question about admin power described above.

Track record and comparison

Tracked TVL grew from roughly $73M at 2023 launch to a peak near $1.21B around October 2025 and now sits around $228M. This review identified no slashing event or loss of principal across five years of Marinade mainnet operation. Jito Liquid Staking assigns its validator set through an on-chain Steward program across roughly 400 validators. By comparison, Native’s SAM allocation results in a narrower set with the specific validator-quality finding described above. Marinade Select, researched with this entry and also rejected, at least selects and KYCs its validator set. Native does neither.

Sources

The claims above trace to these. Where a number could not be independently verified, the thesis says so.

• Marinade documentation — Marinade Native protocol overview · primary · accessed 2026-08-19
  Supports: non-custodial delegation record structure, minimum stake, redemption mechanics
• Marinade — terms of use · primary · accessed 2026-08-19
  Supports: Medium Rare Foundation Panama operating entity
• DefiLlama — Marinade Native protocol data · secondary · accessed 2026-08-19
  Supports: TVL history and current figure
• Marinade governance — MIP-9 stake auction marketplace validator response · primary · accessed 2026-08-19
  Supports: Stake Auction Marketplace mechanism, MIP-9 sandwich-validator governance response
• Jito Foundation — Steward program documentation · secondary · accessed 2026-08-19
  Supports: Steward program validator diversification comparison

Inherited controls

The research above describes the protocol layer. Every position also inherits the asset it holds and the chain it settles on. The layer with the most administrative power sets the position’s effective control; that describes control, not quality or suitability.