Key Takeaways: From Delegation to Markets with Pye Finance

SOL Strategies CTO Max Kaplan recently hosted Erik Ashdown, Co-Founder at Pye Finance, for a conversation exploring validator-centered DeFi and the evolution of staking infrastructure on Solana. The discussion followed SOL Strategies’ operational partnership with Pye Finance. The conversation covered how Pye is building programmable stake accounts and validator-aligned DeFi markets.

Date: January 29, 2026

Format: X Spaces Conversation Recap

Participants: Max Kaplan, CTO, SOL Strategies Inc. (CSE: HODL, NASDAQ: STKE) | Erik Ashdown, Co-Founder, Pye Finance

What Pye Finance Is Building

Erik opened by outlining Pye’s core mission:

“Pye is a platform that enables validator-centered DeFi.”

At the heart of Pye is an upgrade to Solana’s native stake account:

“We’re working on next generation stake accounts by building and upgrading Solana’s native stake account, which enables time locks and custom commissions that separates principle from future staking rewards.”

This upgraded stake account acts as a new on-chain primitive, enabling functionality that doesn’t exist today. On top of this, Pye is building stake trading and a broader DeFi ecosystem:

“We’re also working on stake trading, and building a DeFi ecosystem on top of this new primitive.”

Validator-Aligned DeFi and New Revenue Streams

A central theme of the discussion was how Pye directly benefits validators. Erik explained that validators on Pye gain access to fixed-term lockups, new strategy design space, and stake trading:

“Validators on Pye benefit from fixed term lockins, alternative and exotic DeFi strategies, and stake trading.”

Each validator operates their own market within Pye’s marketplace. When stake is traded in that market, value flows back to the validator:

“If a user is trading within that market, a percentage of the trading fees goes back to the validator.”

This creates a new source of validator revenue that does not exist in Solana today:

“This is a net new form of revenue that doesn’t exist today, and is further financialization of the validator stack.”

Why Solana Was the Natural Home for Pye

Erik explained that the decision to build on Solana was deliberate:

“We realized Solana was the best place for a business like Pye to exist because of its community, the validators, and how well thought out staking is within the ecosystem.”

Rather than replacing Solana’s staking model, Pye is designed to extend it, leveraging the strengths of native stake accounts while adding programmability and liquidity.

Moving Stake Without Breaking Validator Alignment

One of Pye’s most important insights is that stake is constantly moving, and infrastructure should reflect that reality:

“A lot of what we’re doing is the ability to pass SOL from weak hands to strong hands, because that’s just what people are doing. It’s moving all the time.”

The key difference is that, even as stake changes ownership, it can remain delegated to the same validator:

“The other value aside from trading, is the stake staying with the validator, which is better for the validator themselves.”

This allows users to express new views, exit positions, or rebalance without destabilizing validators or fragmenting stake.

Simplicity, Composability, and the Future of Solana DeFi

Looking ahead, Erik shared his perspective on what Solana DeFi needs to unlock its next phase of growth:

“As a builder on Solana, one of the main things the ecosystem is missing is simplicity and composability.”

He noted that deeper financial primitives attract sophisticated capital, while abstraction is key for onboarding institutions and whales:

“The more depth you can add, the more finance people can get involved and the more capital will flow.”

At the same time, usability remains critical:

“The more abstracted away it is, you’ll see larger whales and institutions coming in droves.”

Erik expects the ecosystem to converge on a hybrid approach:

“I think it’ll be a hybrid of both; giving people more optionality, and then streamlining things so that they’re simpler and users have more opportunity to participate.”

The Bigger Picture

The conversation highlighted how staking on Solana is evolving from a passive mechanism into an active financial layer. By upgrading native stake accounts and building validator-aligned markets on top, Pye Finance is pushing staking toward deeper composability, new revenue models, and more efficient capital allocation, without sacrificing the core incentives that keep the network strong.

Learn more about our partnership with Pye: https://solstrategies.io/blog/from-delegation-to-markets-our-next-step-with-pye

 

Disclaimer

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