We're excited to announce the launch of automated Liquid Staking Token (LST) creation for all Solana validators. Combined with our new block rewards distribution CLI (to be released soon), this launch empowers validator operators to efficiently manage stake delegation and reward distribution through the LST model.
Automatic Validator LST Creation
Starting today, every Solana validator automatically receives their own Sanctum Automated LST. This token serves as a liquid representation of stake delegated to your validator, enabling:
- Seamless stake delegation through the LST model
- Enhanced liquidity for stakers
- Native Jupiter integration for instant swaps
- Integrated reward distribution mechanisms
Claiming Your LST
Validator operators can optionally "claim" their automatically generated LST through a simple verification process.
Claiming your Sanctum LST gives validators the following benefits:
- Custom branding control (token name, logo, and metadata)
- Marketing collaboration opportunities
- Enhanced visibility in the Sanctum ecosystem
To start the verification process, sign an off-chain message using your validator's identity keypair:
solana sign-offchain-message SANCTUMLSTCLAIM --keypair <IDENTITY_KEYPAIR_PATH>
After generating the signed message, please fill out the following form to complete the claim process. This ensures that LST customization and promotion are managed securely by legitimate validator operators.
Maximizing LST APY with Block Rewards Distribution
With the implementation of SIMD-96, validators are now more incentivized than ever to share block rewards with their LST holders to increase APY. We've built a custom CLI tool for validators that makes this as easy as possible by:
- Calculating block rewards revenue for an epoch.
- Automating the distribution process to LST holders.
Using the Block Rewards CLI
The CLI tool is designed for straightforward integration into your validator operations:
# Calculate the total block rewards your validator earned for a specific epoch
sanctum-rewards calculate --identity-keypair-path <IDENTITY_KEYPAIR_PATH> --epoch <EPOCH_NUMBER>
# Transfer block rewards to the stake pool reserve
sanctum-rewards transfer --identity-keypair-path <IDENTITY_KEYPAIR_PATH>
FAQ
Are Sanctum LSTs Safe?
Sanctum employs a secure multi-LST liquidity pool protocol built on Solana, with deep DeFi ecosystem integration and transparent staking mechanisms. Multiple security firms have audited the stake pool program nine times to ensure total safety of funds.
Read more here: https://learn.sanctum.so/docs/security/is-sanctum-safe
What fees does Sanctum charge?
There is no management, deposit, or withdraw fee for native stakers converting to LSTs. Sanctum charges new SOL depositors 0.15% for SOL deposits and 0.1% for SOL withdrawals. Validators pay no fees.
How does a staker calculate how much block rewards I'm sharing?
To calculate the percentage of block rewards that are being shared into an LST by a validator, stakers can use this Dune Analytics query which takes the following parameters:
-
identity_pubkey: The validator's identity public key -
vote_account_pubkey: The validator's vote account public key -
stake_pool_pubkey: The LST's stake pool public key (found in the official sanctum-lst-list directory) -
num_days: Number of days of historical data to analyze
The query will show you what percentage of block rewards the validator is contributing to the LST reserve pool per epoch, over the specified time period.
This provides a transparent way to verify reward sharing compliance for any LST validator in the Sanctum ecosystem.
Example:
If a validator is sharing 50% of their block rewards with LST holders, earned 100 SOL in rewards, and 20% of their stake is from LST delegations, they should transfer 10 SOL to the LST reserve pool (50% of the 20 SOL that corresponds to LST delegations). This can be verified by checking their transactions on any Solana explorer.