Key concepts

Solana staking involves delegating SOL tokens to a validator, like Figment, which operates nodes that help secure the network. Rewards are earned based on the validator's performance and the amount of SOL staked. Key points:

Stake account: A new stake account every time you want to stake more, thus there is a one-many relationship between your main wallet and stake accounts. When staking, SOL is moved from your main wallet to this new stake account. When unstaking, SOL is moved from a stake account back into your mainnet wallet. Both are logically and technically in your custody within the entire staking lifecycle (Read more in What's Next)
Delegation: When delegated to a validator, funds remain in the stake account and earn rewards by pointing to the validator
Stake account lifecycle: Stake accounts have various states: inactive , activating , active or deactivating
Rewards: Rewards accrue proportionally based on active stake. 3 types:
- Inflation: Earned epochly and contains new SOL issuance. Earned when a validator votes on blocks created by other validators. Accrues to stake account active_balance thus automatically compounded
- MEV: Earned epochly and contains Jito tips from MEV searchers hoping to have their transactions included in the block. Increases with network activity. Earned when a validator is selected to propose a block as the “leader” (Solana creates ~216,000 blocks/day). Accrues to stake account inactive_balance thus not automatically compounded. Check if your custodian supports MEV reward claiming to benefit from compounding
- Priority fees: Earned blockly and contains transaction fees from users looking to prioritize their transactions. 100% earned by the validator's identity account. Validator may sweep these back to delegators periodically net of voting costs (~400 SOL/year) until SIMD-0123 is implemented.

Stake account lifecycle

Status	Description	Action Needed
`inactive` (before staking)	Stake account created but not delegated to Figment, thus no rewards	Delegate to Figment's mainnet validator or Figment's devnet validator
`activating`	Stake account will be activated at the next epoch boundary, and earn rewards the epoch after that	⌛
`active`	Accrue inflation and MEV rewards every epoch in the stake account balance	Optional: Periodically withdraw MEV rewards using Jito UI or POST /withdraw
`deactivating`	You've broadcasted your signed undelegation transaction and continue earning rewards until the end of the epoch	⌛
`inactive` (after staking)	Funds are withdrawable in the epoch following deactivation	Withdraw rewards and principal from stake account

Extra credit: compound MEV rewards

MEV rewards accrue to your stake account's inactive balance and don't auto-compound like inflation rewards. To earn on them, Solana requires you to manually activate them by signing a transaction from your delegating wallet:

Withdraw your MEV rewards on an active stake account with POST /withdraw. Omitting amount_sol withdraws all of your MEV rewards and keeps your existing stake active
Delegate your withdrawn SOL with POST /stake
Earn rewards next epoch!

Start staking in minutes

Try these recipes to programmatically create, sign and broadcast SOL staking transactions now: