Staking with MoonPay Pots

Overview

MoonPay Pots is a new way to earn passive income on your crypto, starting with SOL and USDC SOL. MoonPay makes it easy to participate—seamlessly converting your crypto and managing everything within one simple interface.

MoonPay Pots liquid staking is built on the audited Solana stake pool program. Your SOL (or USDC SOL converted into SOL through a third-party decentralized provider) is staked on a validator managed by Kiln and your liquid staking token (mpSOL) is issued by Sanctum. All rewards and balances are tracked on-chain, and MoonPay does not ever have custody of your SOL, USDC SOL, or mpSOL — you can redeem your mpSOL independently at any time using the blockchain.

In the event MoonPay sunsets this feature, you would still be able to access and redeem your mpSOL using any Solana-compatible wallet or interface.

Key Benefits

Add to a pot with just $1 of SOL or USDC SOL.
Rewards are earned every epoch (~2 days).
- You only realize rewards after a full epoch is completed—if you withdraw your SOL (USDC SOL in a pot will be converted to SOL using a third-party decentralized provider) partway through an epoch, you’ll only receive rewards from the last completed epoch.
Custom “Pots” with goals and names
Fully integrated in-app experience
Earn up to 8.49 % APY, with rewards paid out every two days (the APY may fluctuate, and please note that once added to a Pot, your USDC SOL will be converted to SOL, meaning that it will also be subject to market price movements in SOL)

How It Works

Buy or Fund: Purchase SOL directly through MoonPay, fund your wallet with SOL from another source, or add USDC SOL, which will be converted to SOL and subsequently mpSOL through third-party decentralized providers (fees may apply).
Stake into a Pot: Choose how much SOL or USDC SOL you want to add to your Pot.
Track & Earn: Once staked, your Pot will reflect your growing balance. You’ll see the updated value of your holdings every ~2 days in both SOL and fiat. No action is needed—your rewards accrue automatically.
Unstake: You can unstake at any time, and your SOL or USDC SOL will be available instantly—no waiting period or lockup. You can hold your SOL, or USDC (Solana), or use the Convert feature to exchange it for another token like BTC or ETH (swap fees may apply).

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the minimum to start staking?

Just $1 of SOL or USDC SOL. Your SOL (or USDC SOL converted to SOL by a third-party decentralized provider) will then be staked.

What happens when I unstake?

You can withdraw your assets from a Pot, i.e., unstake your assets, at any time, and your SOL or USDC SOL will be available instantly—there is no lock-up or waiting period.
If you’d like to convert your unstaked SOL or USDC SOL to another token (like BTC or ETH), you can do so separately using the Convert tab in the app (swap fees may apply).

Which regions are supported?

MoonPay Pots is available everywhere except New York and the EEA

What tokens can I stake?

At this time, you can earn rewards on Solana SOL and USDC SOL using MoonPay Pots. If you hold a different crypto like BTC or ETH, you’ll need to manually convert it to SOL or USDC SOL using the Convert tab in the app before staking.

Once you have SOL or USDC SOL in your wallet, you can add it directly into a Pot to earn rewards (USDC SOL will be converted to SOL through a third-party decentralized provider).

Are there fees?

There are no transaction fees charged by MoonPay when you add your SOL or USDC SOL to Pots.
MoonPay does charge a 1% commission on staking rewards. This is automatically deducted before rewards are reflected in your Pot.

There are also fees from third-party partners (“partner fees”), which are automatically deducted before rewards are accrued to your account.

When adding USDC SOL to a Pot as opposed to SOL, additional Solana Associated Token Account fees may apply in connection with the conversion of the USDC SOL to SOL through a third-party decentralized provider.

Are staking rewards guaranteed?

No, returns are not guaranteed and may vary based on network conditions and validator performance. See also “Are there any risks associated with staking?” below.

Is mpSOL safe?

Liquid staking can make sense for many people, but there are risks. mpSOL is built on the stake pool program developed by Solana Labs, which has been audited nine times. As always, you should DYOR to determine if liquid staking is right for you.

Why did I receive fewer mpSOL than the amount of SOL I staked?

mpSOL increases in value over time. As the price of mpSOL rises, each token is worth more SOL—so you receive fewer mpSOL tokens for the same amount of SOL.

Is mpSOL non-custodial?

Yes. Your tokens are always in your control. You can unstake or redeem mpSOL using the Solana blockchain, even without MoonPay.

How to Stake Using Your Pot (Step-by-Step)

Open the MoonPay App: From the home screen, locate the Earnings section. Tap on My Pot to view and manage your staking.

Tap “+ Add” to Stake: Inside your Pot, tap the + Add button to begin the staking process.

Enter the Amount You Want to Stake: Use the number pad to enter how much SOL or USDC SOL (or the fiat equivalent) you want to stake into your Pot.

Swipe to Confirm: Swipe to complete the staking transaction. The funds will be added to your Pot and start earning rewards right away.

View Updated Pot Balance: After staking, your Pot will display the new balance and updated total value in SOL or USDC SOL and fiat.

How to Unstake from Your Pot (Step-by-Step)

Open the MoonPay App: On your home screen, scroll to the Earnings section. Tap on My Pot to view your staking balance.

Tap the “Withdraw” Button: Inside your Pot view, you’ll see two main options: Withdraw and Add. Tap Withdraw to begin the unstaking process.

Enter the Amount You Want to Withdraw: Use the number pad to input the amount of SOL or USDC SOL (in fiat equivalent) you’d like to move out of your Pot. The withdrawal will go directly to your MoonPay balance.

Swipe to Confirm: Swipe the button at the bottom to finalize your withdrawal.

Success!: You’ll see a confirmation screen letting you know your SOL or USDC SOL has been successfully withdrawn. Your SOL or USDC SOL is now accessible immediately—no delays or lockups.

What is an LST (Liquid Staking Token) and how does it work in MoonPay Pots?

When you add SOL to your MoonPay Pots, your staked SOL and the staking rewards it accrues are represented by a liquid staking token (LST) called mpSOL. Likewise, when you add USDC SOL to your MoonPay Pots, it’s converted to SOL by third-party decentralized providers, at which point your staked SOL and its rewards will also be represented by the LST mpSOL. Your SOL is staked with a third-party validator operated by Kiln, and your mpSOL is issued by the Sanctum protocol. Staking SOL helps secure the Solana network by processing transactions and producing blocks and earns staking awards every epoch (~2 days).

Your Pots will display your mpSOL as staked SOL or USDC SOL for a simpler experience. You can tap More Info within the Pot to view the detailed breakdown.

While MoonPay simplifies the experience in-app, your wallet still holds the actual mpSOL. You can see this directly by checking your address through a Solana explorer like SolScan or by viewing your wallet in a third-party app. You can also trade your mpSOL or use it in third-party DeFi protocols because it is liquid.

Here’s how it works:

When you stake SOL (either directly or by converting USDC SOL into SOL using third-party decentralized providers), mpSOL is minted based on the current SOL/mpSOL ratio, which reflects accrued rewards.
This ratio increases as rewards are earned, so your mpSOL becomes more valuable over time compared to SOL, even though the quantity of mpSOL will stay the same.
Rewards are embedded in the value of the mpSOL itself—there’s no need to manually claim anything.

You can view the live ratio and APY on Sanctum’s mpSOL dashboard.

How is APY calculated and what affects it?

The APY (Annual Percentage Yield) shown in MoonPay Pots is an estimate of the annual return earned through staking. It reflects the real-time performance of our validator and is updated every ~2 days.

The validator earns rewards through:

Block rewards
Inflation rewards
Jito tip rewards

Importantly:

MoonPay charges a 1% commission on staking rewards. This is automatically deducted before rewards are reflected in your Pot.
Your rewards may also be reduced slightly by partner fees, which are standard across the Solana network.
The displayed APY already includes both the MoonPay commission and any applicable partner fees, so what you see is what you earn. It may fluctuate slightly based on network conditions, but generally stays within a consistent range.

Are there any risks associated with staking?

Staking involves additional risks compared to services of regulated providers, like your MoonPay Rails service where you buy, sell, or swap crypto assets directly with MoonPay. This section provides an overview of some of the risks associated with staking but does not cover all possible risks.

Before starting to stake, you should carefully consider whether you are prepared and able to accept these risks, as well as any other potential risks that may arise. We strongly encourage all users to conduct their own research before opening a Pot.

Slashing

To encourage validators to act honestly and keep the network secure, there's a built-in penalty system called slashing. If a validator does not act in accordance with the protocol’s rules, the validator can get "slashed," meaning some of the SOL you've staked could be destroyed. See the Solana website for more information.

Performance Risk

Rewards are earned when the validator correctly produces and validates blocks. If your validator is offline (not running properly, bad internet connection, etc.), it doesn’t help the network, so no rewards are earned for that period. A poorly configured validator may miss blocks, reducing your expected returns.

Commission Fee Risk

Validators set their own commission rates (the percentage of rewards they keep). If a validator raises their commission after you have delegated to them, your actual returns could decrease.

Double Price Volatility Risk

When staking SOL, you’re exposed to two sources of price risk: changes in SOL’s market value and fluctuations in the value of mpSOL itself, which may diverge from SOL. Both can impact the value of your holdings.

Third Party Services

As part of the staking services are provided to you by third parties, MoonPay may not be able to assist with or resolve your staking-related issues, and you may need to rely on the support and resolution processes of those external providers.

Smart Contract Risk

mpSOL is issued by smart contracts developed by Sanctum, introducing additional code and operational risk. Bugs or security issues in this layer could impact liquidity or the ability to redeem your staked assets.

For more information on general crypto asset risks, please see the MoonPay Rails’ Risk Disclosures.