Solend is an algorithmic, decentralized protocol for lending and borrowing. Solend started as a project during the Solana Hackathon that took place in June 2021. It is the leading lending protocol on the Solana blockchain with over $1 billion total volume locked. Coming behind Solend is Serum with $922 million in total volume locked.

By using Solend protocol, you can easily supply funds, borrow, withdraw and repay what you have borrowed.  Whenever you deposit funds into the platform, you will earn interest on them. This interest is algorithmically set. 

Solend acquired Nope Finance, a Solana-based project on the 22nd of June, 2021. By doing so, there was an addition of the expertise of the team at Nope Finance to the Solend team.

Fundraising

On the 26th of October, 2021, Solend announced that they raised $6.5M from many investors like Polychain, Alameda Research etc., to expand and build the protocol.

Pools

Solend offers a variety of different liquidity pools to choose from. Each pool carries it's own benefits. Let's take a look at some of them:

Main Pool

This is the most diverse pool on Solend, and we recommend that you start here to get a hang of the protocol. There are 20+ assets to select from, with varying APYs.

Turbo Pool

This pool uses USDC and SOL and allows up to 10x leverage. Be careful though, using leverage increases your risk of being liquidated. Only use leverage when you understand the risks.

NFT Pool

This pool uses USDC, SOL, and SMBD. SMBD is a fractionalized token for Solana Monkey Business on Solvent.

UXD Pool

The UXD Pool contains USDC, SOL, UXP, and the stablecoin UXD.

Coin98 Pool 

This is a pool of the Coin98 token and many other stablecoins. Coin98 is a multichain liquidity platform built for Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain and Solana.

Stable Pool 

The Stable pool is only for stablecoins. There are six stablecoins in this pool with a total supply of $40.1 million. 

Dog Pool

This is an isolated pool assigned for the dog-themed meme tokens on Solana. SAMO, with about $475,000 of total volume locked is the only coin in the pool for now. 

Step Pool

Step pool is made up of assets from Step Finance. Step Finance is a data visualization and portfolio management application. The Step Finance platform has two tokens – xSTEP and STEP. These tokens, with $3.71M total supply can be easily borrowed or deposited in this pool.

Star Atlas Pool

This pool is based on the popular Solana-based game called Star Atlas that is projected to launch in 2022. Star Atlas is a game of Space Exploration, terrestrial conquest and more. They launched two tokens called Atlas and Polis that would be used in-game. These two tokens can be borrowed and deposited in this pool created by Solend.  

Bonfida Pool

Bonfida is a product suite built on Solana. They offer many products and services that leverages Serum and Solana for the good of the ecosystem. With a token known as FIDA, they can be deposited and borrowed on Solend. 

Invictus Pool

Sol Invictus is a decentralized reserve currency built on Solana. The currency is backed by many other crypto assets. They have a version of their token called the lsIN (i.e., Locked Staked IN) that can be used to earn yield while it utilizing it as collateral. It has a total supply of $252K on Solend. 

Solend cTokens

cTokens are Solana SPL tokens that can be used to represent other SPL tokens you have. What this means is that when you have an SPL token that is available on the Solend protocol’s cToken section, it means you can mint the normal token to its cToken version. 

An example of this is if you have mSOL token in your wallet, you can convert it to cmSOL. 

Enter the value of the token you want to deposit as a cToken in the mint section. Minting in this context is the process of turning the normal SPL token into the cToken format.

After minting, you can redeem the cToken. This is the process of turning your minted cToken back to the normal SPL token you once had. 

The benefit of this conversion is that you can be able to earn interest of these tokens that would readily not have interest if they had remained in your wallet in their normal SPL token form. Once you have redeemed the cToken, the possibility of earning interest is revoked. 

Solend’s SLND Tokenomics

Solend protocol has a native token denoted with SLND. With 100 million SLND as the total supply, the following is the distribution model that is used to assign these tokens:

• 25% (25,000,000 SLND) is assigned to the Solend Team
• 15% (15,000,000 SLND) is assigned to the Solend investors
• 30% (30,000,000 SLND) is allocated for liquidity mining 
• 25% (25,000,000 SLND) is assigned to the treasury.  
• 5% (5,000,000 SLND) was allocated for the IDO that took place on the 1st of November to the 3rd of November, 2021. 

SLND Referral Program

Solend referral program is a program available to users of the lending protocol and holders of the SLND token which gives incentives for bringing new users to their protocol. Navigate to the Referral section.  

To qualify for this program, you must hold and/or deposit a total of 1000 SLND. After connecting your wallet, you can share the referral link given to you. The user you are inviting must connect their wallet using the link you have been provided. 

After they have their wallet setup, whenever they borrow, you receive 20% of the fees they were charged. You can view your rewards overtime in the Referral section.