Marginfi is a lending and borrowing protocol on Solana with $1B+ in TVL. It lets you supply assets to earn interest, borrow against collateral, and access margin trading for Solana-native tokens.
Core Products
mrgnlend: The lending market. Supply assets (SOL, USDC, jitoSOL, mSOL, USDT, and others) to earn interest. Borrow against your supplied collateral.
Marginfi Portfolio: A portfolio view that aggregates your lending positions, borrow health factor, and earned yield across Marginfi products.
How Lending Works on Marginfi
Supplying: Deposit assets into a lending pool. You earn a variable APY paid by borrowers. Rates adjust based on utilization (how much of the pool is borrowed vs supplied). High utilization = high rates.
Borrowing: Post collateral (your supplied assets), then borrow up to your LTV limit. LTV (loan-to-value) varies by asset:
- SOL: ~80% LTV
- USDC: ~90% LTV
- Smaller tokens: 50–70% LTV
Health Factor: Your borrow health is shown as a number. Health Factor > 1 = safe. HF < 1 = liquidation. Monitor this closely when you have outstanding borrows.
Liquidation: If your HF drops below 1, liquidators repay part of your debt and seize a portion of your collateral at a discount. Liquidation fees are typically 5–10% of the liquidated amount.
Isolated vs Shared Pools
Marginfi offers two pool types:
Main Pool: Shared collateral across all assets. Your jitoSOL can collateralize a USDC borrow. More capital efficient.
Isolated Pools: Assets in isolated pools don't count as collateral for borrows in the main pool. Used for riskier, newer assets — limits contagion risk if one asset depegs or collapses.
Always check which pool an asset is in before assuming it can be used as collateral.
MRGN Token and Points
Marginfi ran an extensive points program (mrgnPoints) through 2024-2025, accumulating points for supplying and borrowing. The MRGN token airdrop distributed rewards to points holders.
MRGN is Marginfi's governance token. Ongoing governance decisions (supported assets, LTVs, interest rate curves) are voted on by MRGN holders.
Risk Management on Marginfi
Set health factor alerts: Most wallet dashboards (Step Finance, Marginfi's own interface) let you set alerts when your HF drops below a threshold. Liquidations are fast on Solana.
Stablecoin borrows are lower risk: Borrowing USDC against SOL collateral is less risky than borrowing SOL against SOL, because USDC doesn't appreciate (no risk that your debt value outpaces collateral).
Loop carefully: Marginfi is commonly used for "looping" — supply SOL, borrow USDC, buy more SOL, supply again, repeat. This amplifies yield but also amplifies liquidation risk in a SOL price decline.
Watch utilization rates: Very high utilization (>90%) means limited liquidity to withdraw. In stress conditions, you may not be able to withdraw immediately.
How to Get Started
- Go to app.marginfi.com and connect your Solana wallet
- Click Supply next to an asset you want to lend (e.g., USDC for stablecoin yield)
- Enter amount, confirm the transaction
- Your supplied position appears in the portfolio view with current APY
- To borrow: supply collateral first, then click Borrow and select your borrow asset — watch your health factor carefully
Marginfi vs Kamino Lend
Both are major Solana lending protocols. Key differences:
| Feature | Marginfi | Kamino Lend | |---------|---------|-------------| | UI | Minimal, data-dense | More visual | | Points history | Extensive | Also ran points | | Isolated pools | Yes | Yes | | Integration | Deep Solana ecosystem | Also integrated with Kamino LP |
Many DeFi users use both — Marginfi for some positions, Kamino for others, depending on rates and available collateral types.