If you’re holding Solana in your wallet, a centralized exchange, or worse, you’re chopping up your Solana chasing shitters, you’re doing yourself a huge disservice.
The Solana ecosystem has been rapidly expanding since 2022 and is now home to many quality DeFi projects. This article looks at 3 different protocols on Solana that you can use to put your stagnant SOL to work.
Jito
Jito is a liquid staking protocol on Solana, allowing you to exchange your Solana for JitoSOL. JitoSOL is a reward-bearing token that earns yield and you can still use your JitoSOL in other DeFi protocols.

JitoSOL works by first depositing SOL into the Jito protocol. You then receive JitoSOL tokens in exchange for your SOL. The current exchange rate is 1 SOL = 0.8505 JitoSOL.
The Jito protocol funnels staking and MEV rewards toward the JitoSOL token which increases the JitoSOL/SOL exchange rate.
Overtime, the number of JitoSOL tokens you have remains the same but the value of JitoSOL increases against SOL because of the accumulation of staking and MEV rewards.
The biggest advantage of the Jito protocol is liquid staking. While your SOL is earning yield in JitoSOL, you can deposit your JitoSOL tokens into Kamino for example to earn additional yield. Or you can deposit JitoSOL into Drift for margin trading.
Keep in mind, if you take a risk with your JitoSOL tokens and you end up taking losses, you’ll have less JitoSOL to redeem for the SOL that you deposited.

Kamino
Kamino is one of the easiest places to hold your Solana and earn extra yield. Here are 3 basic strategies you can use on Kamino:
Lending Markets
Deposit your USDC in the borrow/lend markets. This will get you around 5% apr on your deposits. Check out this article for more details on where the yield is coming from.
Single Sided Staking
Kamino also provides single side staking for Solana by using 2 features unique to Kamino: eMode & Multiply markets. Kamino’s Multiply markets allow you to loop your Solana to increase your size and the yield you earn. eMode works in combination with Multiply by granting you access to higher leverage on certain assets, like JitoSOL and SOL.

Using the JitoSOL/SOL Multiply market as an example, once you deposit JitoSOL you can choose a multiplier between 1x and 10x. The multiplier you choose will determine how much your initial deposit is looped, giving you the potential to earn more on your initial deposit.
These Multiply markets use overcollateralized loans and a soft liquidation system which reduce the risk of you losing your position.
Liquidations start when your loan-to-value (LTV) ratio goes over the liquidation threshold. Liquidation thresholds depend on the type of asset you’re holding.
Liquidity Pools
Another way to put your SOL to work on Kamino is with their Liquidity Pools. Depositing to the JitoSOL/SOL pool for example will give you directional exposure to Solana while also giving you access to yield from fees earned by the Kamino protocol.

Because JitoSOL and SOL are tied to the price of Solana (JitoSOL is just staked Solana) you don’t have to worry about impermanent loss. You may end up with more or less SOL/JITOSOL than you deposited but your initial deposit will just follow the direction of the market.
Drift
Drift is a decentralized exchange that allows users to trade perpetual contracts. Drift is known mostly for perps but they also have an underrated vault and staking system that make it easy to put your otherwise stagnant SOL to work.
Lend/Borrow
Similar to Kamino, you can deposit your SOL into lending markets on Drift to earn interest.
Depositing SOL in the lending market gets you around 2.644% APR which will fluctuate with the level of activity on Drift. The interest comes from the fees paid by people with open loans on Drift.

Vaults
Drift runs a vault system that allows independent contributors to open vaults with unique strategies.
Sorting the vaults by 90-day APY will help you find the vaults with the most consistent strategies. Look for vaults older than 1 month to ensure the strategy is somewhat consistent.
Drift vaults use a variety of strategies including going delta neutral (balancing long and short positions), using borrowed funds to hedge against losses, and hedging positions in liquidity pools.

Vaults offer unique ways to earn yield from trading fees on Drift. Many vaults use hedging mechanisms to protect your initial deposit from price swings.
Drift vaults are medium risk since you risk depositing into a vault running an unprofitable strategy. Your funds are secured by the Drift protocol which can give you confidence in the security of the vaults.
Check out this thread by @FabianoSolana for more information on how to choose a Drift vault.
Insurance Fund Staking
The Drift protocol has an insurance fund intended to maintain solvency and keep the protocol running in case of extreme market fluctuations. The money for the insurance fund mostly comes from trading fees, borrow/lend fees, and liquidations on Drift.
Depositing your SOL in the insurance fund grants you access to a portion of the borrowing fees and liquidations generated on the Drift protocol. If you deposit USDC into the insurance fund, you’ll get fees from trading in addition to fees from the borrow/lend market and liquidations.

Keep in mind, if you want to take your money out of the insurance fund there’s a 13-day waiting period.
Here’s How You Get Your SOL Working For You