# What is Liquid Staking?

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A more versatile and efficient way to grow your SOL holdings.

Staking SOL involves assigning your tokens to validators on the Solana network, boosting their capacity to secure the network and participate in decision-making. In return, you earn rewards for your contribution to the ecosystem.

You can either stake directly with a validator or through a stake pool, but no matter how you choose to stake, you retain full control over your tokens.

#### Leveraging Stake Pools and Liquid Tokens

Stake pools on Solana distribute your stake across multiple validators, maximizing the efficiency of your contribution. With Toby, when you delegate your SOL, you receive **tSOL**, a liquid staking token that keeps your assets accessible while still earning staking rewards. This ensures that your SOL stays fluid and ready for DeFi opportunities without missing out on staking benefits.

#### Boosting Network Resilience

By staking through Toby, you’re contributing to the decentralization and robustness of the Solana network. We allocate your stake across a broad range of top-performing validators, ensuring that your contribution strengthens the network’s performance and security. Our **Validator Optimizer** ensures that your SOL is working with validators who align with these goals.

With Toby, you don’t have to sacrifice either high rewards or network decentralization. You get the best of both worlds—plus, you gain access to our **Open-MEV marketplace**, which adds another layer of value by capturing additional rewards from network transactions.

#### Unlocking Liquidity with DeFi Integration

Your **tSOL** token isn’t just for staking—it also unlocks a world of DeFi possibilities. Whether you’re looking to lend, provide liquidity, or explore yield farming, **tSOL** integrates smoothly across DeFi platforms. You can keep your SOL liquid and productive, all while earning staking rewards. Toby partners with various DeFi platforms to ensure that your **tSOL** fits into a broad ecosystem of financial opportunities.


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