Track market-moving stories before they get noisy

Bloomberg ETF analysts confirm Fidelity Solana ETF (FSOL) and Canary Marinade Solana ETF (SOLC) to launch on Tuesday. With the launch, the crypto industry will have five spot Solana ETFs to trade, but SOL price keeps dipping despite inflows in SOL exchange-traded funds.

Fidelity Solana ETF (FSOL) Waives Fees for 6 Months According to an SEC filing on November 18, Fidelity Solana ETF has waived 0.25% for a period of six months. In addition, the issuer will also bear the staking fee on all staking rewards generated from the first $1 billion assets.

The ETF becomes auto-effective with an 8-A filing and gains approval from NYSE Arca to list shares under the ticker symbol FSOL, according to US SEC filings.

Bloomberg’s senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas said the Fidelity Solana ETF is slated to launch on November 18. The trust has set a management fee of o.25%.

“Easily the biggest asset manager in this category with BlackRock sitting out,” he added. BlackRock has denied interest in launching any ETF beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs currently. Bloomberg analyst Balchunas quoted the launch amid continuous inflows as “Game on” as Bitwise’s BSOL has almost $450 million in assets under management.

ETF Prime host Nate Geraci revealed that the world’s third-largest asset manager Fidelity now has both direct SOL access and spot ETFs.

Fidelity recently rolled out *direct* spot solana trading…

Tomorrow they’ll launch spot sol ETF.

So both direct sol access & spot ETFs.

World’s *third* largest asset manager.

Welcome to the future.

Still surprised BlackRock sitting this one out. pic.twitter.com/h4JqUHMYB2

— Nate Geraci (@NateGeraci) November 18, 2025

Canary Marinade Solana ETF (SOLC) Launches Today In addition to the Fidelity Solana ETF, the Canary Marinade Solana ETF also gains approval from the Nasdaq to list shares under the ticker symbol SOLC, as per a CERT filing with the US SEC.

Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart claims that Canary Capital, in partnership with Marinade Finance, to launch the SOLC on Tuesday. Marinade is the SOL staking partner. It has a management fee of 0.50%, with no waiver announced yet.

SOL Price Rebounds SOL price has tumbled by more than 20% in a week despite continued inflows into Solana ETFs. With nearly $400 million in total inflows in Solana ETFs, VanEck Solana ETF (VSOL) launched on Monday to join others.

Solana tumbled 9% today, with the price currently trading at $134.35. The 24-hour low and high are $129.02 and $142.47, respectively.

However, it recorded more than 3% rebound from the 24-hour low. Trading volume has increased by 60% in the last 24 hours, indicating a rise in interest among traders in response to the Fidelity Solana ETF launch.

CoinGlass data showed buying sentiment in the derivatives market in the past few hours. At the time of writing, the total SOL futures open interest jumped 0.61% to $7.43 billion in the last 24 hours. The 4-hour SOL futures open interest climbed nearly 2%.

Solana’s staking ecosystem accelerated in 2025, driven by both retail users and institutions. Native staking remained the dominant pillar, supported by elevated yields during the 2024–2025 cycle. Marinade, as one of the pioneers in this field, grew in native staking. Its native staking product consistently delivered high performance, with peak APY reaching double digits (11.64%) during November 2024 and remaining competitive through 2025.

Liquid staking tokens also continued their upward trajectory in 2025, increasing from roughly 11% of all staked $SOL in early 2025 to over 14% by October. During this period, $JitoSOL, $dzSOL, and $bnSOL grew significantly, while $mSOL shifted to fifth place. This shift highlights intensifying competition among LSTs and signals a broader strategic recalibration for Marinade as market dynamics evolve.

Shift Toward Native Staking in 2025 Marinade’s overall staking footprint rebounded as $SOL’s market recovery gained momentum. By Q3 2025, its total staked $SOL surpassed 10M, but the more significant development was the clear shift toward Native staking, which overtook the protocol’s LST segment and established itself as the dominant component. 

While LSTs continued to offer meaningful advantages, enhancements to delegation infrastructure, refined reward mechanisms, and the introduction of features such as instant unstake enabled the Native segment to demonstrate materially stronger and more sustained growth.

Speaking to SolanaFloor about this shift, Michael Repetný, co-founder of Marinade Finance, explained the dynamics behind this transition:

“Institutions and retail alike still prefer safety and security over liquid staking. Marinade launched with Bitgo integration and another native staking integrations to be announced soon, so we expect that trend to follow. While we do have an exciting product for mSOL too to be announced with an ecosystem partner. So we shall see what product wins in 2026.”

Institutions Enter the Staking Layer 2025 marked a turning point for institutional adoption. Asset managers and custodians are increasingly integrating staking into their products, beginning with ETPs and eventually expanding into treasury allocations. VanEck’s staking-enabled Solana ETP signaled the first wave of TradFi interest, addressing dilution concerns by incorporating staking yield directly into fund performance.

Rapid Institutional Growth of Marinade Select Marinade became a central infrastructure partner for institutions. Marinade Select, the protocol’s enterprise‑grade staking service, offered a curated validator set with audited performance, slashing protection, and strict operational standards. Partnerships with BitGo, Zodia, and Copper strengthened this positioning. 

By mid‑2025, Marinade Select had become the designated staking backend for institutional products, including the Canary Solana ETF (SOLC). Corporate adoption accelerated, and by November 2025, Marinade Select’s TVL surpassed 3.1M $SOL (~ $436M), representing a threefold growth within the month. Notably, this expansion occurred in less than six months, underscoring the rapid pace at which institutions adopted Solana staking through Marinade’s infrastructure.

When asked about the current sentiment among institutional players toward Solana staking yields, associated risks, and the scale of allocations they are now prepared to deploy, Repetný offered his perspective:

“Everyone is cautious but def more open towards more risky products like LSTs and DeFi, which is a slight shift since the new administration. There's extreme margin compression in the institutional space, leaving validators with close to zero upside since the alternative for the institution is to spin up their own node themselves. What's going to be interesting is how the institutions adapt to a more versatile environment with multiple MEV engines like Harmonic, Paladin etc.”

Institutional Staking Becomes Marinade’s New Growth Engine Marinade’s core business historically centered on liquid staking through $mSOL, but the rapid rise of its institutional‑grade product signals a major market shift. With Marinade Select surpassing 3.1M $SOL in TVL by November 2025, the growth trajectory suggests this segment may soon become the primary pillar of the protocol’s business.

A key question arises: why do institutions continue to choose Marinade Select despite its comparatively lower APY? Repetný provided a more formal perspective on the institutional considerations driving this shift:

“Marinade Select is a KYC-only product built on top of known and reputable community validators, making it a superior choice to decentralize Solana in the best way possible, avoiding sybils and questionable validators, while staying competitive in yield. We expect Select APY to be on par with self-staking yield very soon, with more announcements to come.”

Outlook Solana’s staking ecosystem enters 2026 with growing indications that institutional staking may become the dominant trend of the next cycle. Native staking remains essential for network security, while liquid staking continues to support DeFi activity. However, institutional‑grade staking is rapidly emerging as a strategic pillar of the ecosystem. Marinade’s evolution from a liquid staking pioneer to a leading institutional partner through Marinade Select positions it as a major contributor to this shift. The protocol’s ability to offer vetted validators, operational assurances, and compatibility with custodial infrastructure underscores why institutions increasingly rely on it.

Read More on SolanaFloor Trading of Cross‑Chain Tokens on Solana: $MON and $ZEC Exceed $1B in DEX Volume

For years, Marinade Finance has been one of Solana’s most reliable staking operators, enabling $SOL holders to earn optimized yield on their stake.

Today, Marinade Finance expands its offering to include $USDC rewards. Joining forces with RockawayX and Kamino, Marinade is launching its proprietary stablecoin savings product, enabling users to earn up to 6% APY on $USDC deposits.

The launch echoes a wider trend playing out across the DeFi economy, wherein crypto natives are storing their wealth onchain regardless of market dynamics. 

Marinade’s $USDC Vault to Target 4-6% APY The Marinade USDC Vault is a stablecoin savings product that lets users earn yield on $USDC without leaving the Marinade ecosystem. The vault targets a variable 4-6% APY on deposited $USDC, with yield subject to prevailing market conditions.

Moving out of staked $SOL into cash can be a cumbersome affair. Offramping to fiat costs the average user around 2% in compounded fees, and can sometimes take several days. 

Seeing that around 75% of its unstakers are seeking to exit to USD, Marinade Finance has designed a stablecoin vault that seeks to capture this value flow. In one click, users can shift capital directly from staked $SOL into a yield-bearing $USDC vault, with fiat off-ramping expected in future updates.

Upon deposit to the Marinade vault, users receive an SPL share token representing their position, which remains transferable and redeemable at any time.

"Instead of losing users through a painful off-ramp process, we're giving them a reason to stay. With Kamino powering the infrastructure and RockawayX managing the strategy, users get solid yield with the simplicity Marinade is known for." - Michael Repetny, Marinade Finance CEO

In times of market uncertainty, Marinade’s stablecoin vault becomes a powerful tool for DeFi users who want to limit their exposure to volatile assets, while continuing to earn yield onchain.

RockawayX to Manage Vault Strategy Marinade’s $USDC vault is built on a three-layer stack, collaborating with some of the names in Solana DeFi. 

RockawayX, an investment firm with deep ties to the Solana ecosystem, will manage the vault’s yield strategy. Overseeing the vault’s day-to-day operation, RockawayX will allocate and actively rebalance capital to ensure consistent yield. 

At press time, RockawayX has communicated its intention to run a conservative mixed-market strategy, allocating funds across Kamino’s lending markets, Maple’s institutional credit markets, and various similar RWA products.

While RockawayX handles strategy, Marinade owns and controls the vault outright, with its Council multisig (3 of 5) holding ultimate authority. Marinade can add or remove modules, replace the vault manager, adjust configuration, or initiate a wind-down at any time, and RockawayX is unable to withdraw funds to external wallets.

“Our job is to underwrite every allocation properly and rebalance when conditions move. We've run market-neutral strategies through every major stress event since 2022 with zero defaults. That's the standard we're applying here.” - Nassim Alexandre, RockawayX Head of Onchain Asset Management and Curation

Kamino Finance provides the underlying infrastructure through the Kamino Buildkit, and is built upon Kamino’s Lend product, including smart contracts, lending markets, NAV accounting, and the share token mechanics. Solana’s biggest DeFi lender, Kamino has successfully completed 18 independent audits and suffered zero bad debt since the platform launched in 2022.

Solana Stablecoin Supply At All-Time Highs The launch of Marinade Finance’s stablecoin vault coincides with the emergence of a new trend in onchain markets. Previously, the end of a crypto bull cycle would typically result in an exodus of capital, with market participants moving their funds offchain to store their wealth in fiat.

That appears to be changing in 2026. While asset prices continue to slide amidst languishing market conditions, traders and investors are choosing to keep their funds onchain, taking advantage of a wealth of yield bearing opportunities in the stablecoin economy.

In the collapse of the 2021 bull market, Solana’s stablecoin supply remained largely unchanged as $SOL plummeted from $250 to around $30, before capitulating entirely towards the end of the year. This time around, Solana’s stablecoin supply has expanded in the face of declining asset value, suggesting market participants prefer to store their wealth across Solana DeFi.

Marinade’s $USDC vault seeks to capture this value flow, enabling its users to continue to earn reliable yield on their assets, without needing to leave the Marinade ecosystem.