Marinade is still one of the most structurally mispriced opportunities in crypto: @MarinadeFinance manages staked SOL worth $1.7B and trades at $130M FDV (effective 0.076x FDV/TVL multiple) While a competitor manages staked SOL worth $2.9B and trades at $1.9B FDV (effective 0.66x FDV/TVL multiple) That’s an 8.6x gap between MNDE's current valuation and its peer-adjusted potential When we published our Marinade deep dive in March, we called it the most asymmetric bet on Solana. Three months later, the core thesis has been validated, unfolded, and hardcoded into the next era of institutional staking. Here’s why $MNDE now looks even more compelling: (1) The early predictions are now facts on the ground In March, we framed Marinade as the missing institutional primitive for Solana, a product suite built for custody-conscious capital flows, with a bootstrapped protocol capturing a disproportionate share of Solana’s staking flows. That was before: - Solana ETF filings were on a path to approval - The SEC opened the door for staking inclusion - Marinade was named the first provider in a U.S. ETF Hence, rather than luck, it was the thesis playing out. (2) Regulatory overhang lifted In a landmark shift, the SEC clarified that staking-as-a-service, validator ops, and even self-custodial delegation do not constitute securities activity. For Marinade Native (a fully non-custodial staking path) this is catalytic. Why? Because Marinade's design becomes its structural edge. The product now sits in a regulatory sweet spot: - Infrastructure-aligned with institutional mandates - No derivative instruments or passthrough tokens - No custody risk - Compliant by design (3) Marinade Select becomes the default Last month, Canary Funds’ U.S. Solana ETF filing formally named Marinade Select as its staking provider. This isn’t mSOL. It’s a new, validator-compliant routing product that: - Only delegates to KYC’d validators - Enforces ethical slashing conditions - Runs on SOC 2-grade infra The ETF needed transparency, trust, and track record. Marinade facilitated all of it. (4) Solana ETF approvals are now imminent The SEC has asked ETF issuers to revise S-1s with staking-specific language. Analysts now expect approval as early as July. Every signal, from in-kind redemption clarifications to accelerated reviews, points to a greenlight. Once these ETFs go live, staking yield will become a front-and-center feature. Marinade is already built for it and ready to absorb the flows. (5) Value accrual to the MNDE token With the MIP.5 governance proposal, Marinade is bound to route protocol yield directly to MNDE stakers, creating the first clear, persistent value accrual for the token. Pair that with validator demand for MNDE (to win delegation in SAM auctions), and you get a dual-faceted flywheel: - Yield-sharing - Stake-based bidding power Both growing. Neither priced in. (6) A protocol built for a purpose, not just hype No points program. No airdrop games. No VC cliffs. No overhang. Fully bootstrapped. Solana staking is institutional now. Marinade’s the backend. It already routes a substantial portion of all Solana staked and with the SOL ETF approvals is bound to absorb exponentially more, yet it trades at $130M FDV. That delta won’t last.