A narrative description of the purpose of the project and its operation in layman's terms is provided.
Response
Marinade launched the first Liquid Staking Token (LST) on Solana and is now one of the largest liquid staking protocols in the ecosystem. Marinade also launched Marinade Native, allowing users to delegate SOL non-custodially and still have their SOL staking rewards optimized by Marinade's strategy. Marinade’s Stake Auction Marketplace powers the delegation and directs the SOL to top-performing validators based on transparent, performance-driven criteria. For institutions, Marinade offers a curated staking experience through Marinade Select. MNDE is governed by the Marinade DAO, with decisions driven by MNDE token holders.
A narrative description of the Project's primary sources of revenue is provided, broken out by entity (e.g. Foundation, Labs, DAOs, or other).
Response
Marinade earns revenue from staking commission fees collected across delegated SOL. These fees are transparently accrued on-chain and used to fund protocol operations. Upcoming changes will direct all revenue to the DAO treasury to support DAO proposals, liquidity incentives, and MNDE buybacks. The current fee structure includes 75% of validator bids for mSOL and Marinade Native, and 30 basis points (bps) on TVL for Marinade Select. Soon, this will be updated to a flat 9.5% of all staking rewards for Marinade Native and mSOL, while the 30 bps fee on TVL for Marinade Select will remain unchanged.
The Project must clearly disclose the rights, value accrual mechanisms, and distinctions between token holders and DevCo equity holders. Any value allocated specifically to equity holders (e.g., dividends, profit-sharing) must be communicated separately from value accruing to token holders.
Response
There is no private equity entity that accrues value from Marinade protocol fees. All protocol value currently flows to Marinade Labs to fund development, but due to a recent governance proposal, all fees will be directed to the DAO treasury in the near future. Locked MNDE holders have full control over the DAO treasury, and following the upcoming change to the fee direction, will have full ownership over the protocol's revenue too. Locking MNDE token is not rewarded with additional MNDE tokens, but gives ownership in the protocol direction and the use of treasury and accumulated fees. Equity in Marinade Labs does not give any rights over the protocol's revenue or DAO treasury.
If core team members are compensated by any Tokens allocated to the Foundation through advisory services or similar agreements, or by any other payment method (i.e. fiat), these payments must be disclosed. Note, foundation team members known and exclusively compensated by the Foundation are excluded.
Response
Marinade Labs is currently funded through protocol fees and hires contributors to participate in the project’s development and growth. Any additional tokens from the DAO distributed to contributors must go through a governance vote by MNDE holders. In the near future, Marinade Labs will no longer receive protocol fees and will request a budget from the DAO to continue improving and developing Marinade products. The Marinade DAO has currently authorized a 46M MNDE budget to be distributed to contributors for reaching 8M SOL TVL, and has pre-approved a 46M MNDE budget to reach 16M SOL. All protocol fees since inception have also been directed to Marinade Labs to fund development and growth.
The identities of key team members (e.g., founders, CEO, CTO, COO of Labs, President of Foundation, etc.) are publicly disclosed.
Response
Core contributors are publicly known, including Marinade’s founder, Michael Repetný, along with business development, engineering, and governance contributors actively participating in public governance and ecosystem events. Some team members can beseen on this page: https://marinade.finance/teamhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/repetny/
The Project must provide publicly accessible documentation covering the Token's governance rights, rights to value accrual, any additional utility, and the mechanism by which token governance is implemented (e.g. an insider multi-sig).
Response
Marinade provides fully public documentation for governance and tokenomics, including the MNDE token page https://marinade.finance/mnde, the Marinade DAO forum https://forum.marinade.finance/, and governance proposals on Realms https://app.realms.today/dao/MNDE. These sources outline token supply, voting power, DAOprocesses, and proposal history.
Disclosed information explaining the launch and initial supply that includes: the total number of tokens issued, the category of the recipient (team, investor, foundation, community), the total supply of the token and if it is capped, and the initial vesting schedule.
Response
MNDE launched with a transparent 1 billion token supply, with minting of new tokens being disabled. The initial allocation included distributions to the community through an airdrop, an allocation to early contributors, and the rest of the tokens going to the DAO. Allocation details were publicly released at launch:
All Insider Token allocations (team, investor, foundation) must be transparent, per the disclosed Initial Allocation. If vesting occurs at a custodian, clearly disclose the employee categories and associated vesting schedules clearly in your documentation.
Response
Marinade only distributed initial token allocations to early contributors, which were fully distributed by January 2024. These allocations represented 7.5% of the supply (75M MNDE), with a 6 months cliff and vesting over 18 months which ended in January 2024. All subsequent allocations of MNDE went through DAO governance https://marinade.finance/mnde
Addresses that hold any Unissued Tokens (e.g. foundation, future contributors, treasury) must be publicly labelled (address listed in docs) and be held in distinct wallets. This includes the foundation allocation. The party (e.g. team, foundation, DAO) that controls the funds must also be disclosed.
Response
Marinade maintains clearly labeled token accounts for unissued MNDE across DAO, treasury, and contributor allocations. These wallets can be verified on Solana block explorers and are referenced in public DAO proposals and documentation.
The project must disclose all airdrop eligibility criteria clearly and provide a full CSV list of recipients, including addresses and amount received.
Response
The MNDE airdrop happened in 2021 and rewarded early Marinade users. The airdrop rewarded users that were holding mSOL in their wallet or in DeFi protocols between August 2nd, 2021 and September 30th, 2021. The airdrop eligibility criteria were not shared before the airdrop as it was designed as a retroactive airdrop to reward Marinade early users.
Disclose information on insiders (Team, Investors, Foundation, Advisors) tokens that are locked and can earn rewards.
Response
Locked insider MNDE tokens are not eligible for staking rewards unless explicitly approved by the DAO. When rewards are distributed, they are typically earned via active contribution or approved vesting rather than passive holding.
The project commits that any future token issuance (e.g., minting or emissions outside scheduled vesting) will be publicly disclosed and justified on an official platform (e.g., governance forum, blog, or docs).
Response
Marinade commits that any future MNDE issuance will occur only through DAO governance with full transparency. The total MNDE supply is capped at 1 billion, and any reallocation or budget proposal must be approved via Realms governance and documented on the DAO forum.
The team discloses all tokens launched by its key team members in the past and explicitly lays out its philosophy around launching new tokens, related to the project or otherwise. (e.g. "We do not plan to launch additional tokens" or "Any additional tokens will be given 1:1 to existing token holders who can then vote on proposals submitted by the management team.")
Response
Marinade has no plans to launch additional tokens. All value accrual and governance are centered on MNDE. Any future developments related to staking or validator incentives will remain governed by the Marinade DAO under the existing MNDE framework. Key team members have not launched any other tokens and commit to not doing so in the future.
The project commits to disclosing any material Related Party & Insider Transaction within 30 days and includes: The nature of the transaction, the Related Person, the basis on which the person is a Related Person, and the number of tokens involved in the transaction. This includes tokens issued by the foundation.
Response
Any transactions involving insiders, such as compensation or grants, are conducted via on-chain proposals approved by the DAO. Treasury usage and contributor payments are publicly visible and documented in advance via Realms governance and the forum. Additionally, Marinade commits to disclosing related party transactions within 30 days.
Disclosed information of previous fundraising rounds, material OTC rounds to investors, or discounted market maker sales involving the Project and its Token that includes: the date of sale, number of tokens sold, and the vesting schedule of these tokens. The Project commits to disclosing any material OTC deal involving token sales and purchases by the foundation within 30 days.
Response
Marinade launched MNDE without any token sale and just airdropped it to its early users. In July 2022, Marinade conducted a Token Exchange Program and sold MNDE to ecosystem participants https://marinade.finance/blog/marinade-dao-executes-token-exchange-program-to-align-with-lea ding-solana-builders Protocols
Projects must disclose key details of market making and centralized exchange agreements affecting token liquidity, including: names of all market makers & centralized exchanges involved, the token allocation for each (as % of total supply), and the duration of each agreement.
Response
Marinade engaged with market makers on behalf of the DAO after a budget was unlocked through a governance vote. The names, duration of the contracts and token allocation for each was not disclosed, but the total market making budget was 26M MNDE, and those market makers operate on Kucoin, Gate and Coinbase. There are no current CEX deals. https://forum.marinade.finance/t/dao-proposal-unlock-a-26m-mnde-budget-to-onboard-multiple-market-makers-for-mnde/1393
The Project commits to providing updates to token holders on a quarterly basis via forum posts, live dashboards, or reports that cover core project KPIs, changes to Token supply or allocations, and disclosure of top line revenue and expenses. The Project may engage third-party contractors to prepare and deliver these updates.
Response
Marinade regularly provides updates to the community via governance forums, proposal retrospectives, and DAO contributor reports. Major strategic changes and campaign updates are shared in monthly governance calls, Twitter threads, and through the Marinade blog. Additionally, Marinade commits to continue regular blog posts intended to keep all token holders fully updated. These blogs will continue to occur quarterly, at minimum.
The foundation's assets or working capital are held onchain and publicly labelled, providing the ability to track asset holdings, revenue, and expenses. Or, the foundation publishes a quarterly, publicly available financial report of its assets, working capital, revenue and expenses.
Response
Marinade’s DAO treasury and protocol cash flows are fully on-chain and tracked in real time via DeFiLlama. Staking commission revenue, MNDE incentive distributions, and grant spending are visible through Realms governance and labeled wallet activity. There are no off-chain financial operations; all treasury usage is governed transparently by the DAO.All Marinade quarterly revenue and fees can be tracked here: Marinade - DeFiLlama Associatedwallets: DAO treasury: B56RWQGf9RFw7t8gxPzrRvk5VRmB5DoF94aLoJ25YtvG Council Budget (Budgets unlocked by DAO governance to be used by Marinade Labs for various initiatives): J5BEceL5z1EQ7JBqEFu4BfPN4PYCeQaW3GXrzXFfCzhs Operational wallet (Wallet that accumulates the protocol fees until the switch and fund expenses): 89SrbjbuNyqSqAALKBsKBqMSh463eLvzS4iVWCeArBgB
This Token Transparency Filing is provided for general informational purposes only. Blockworks reviews completeness only and does not verify or warrant the accuracy of individual answers. Marinade is solely responsible for the content, accuracy, and legality of its disclosures.
