Performances
RD Popularity Index
RD Growth Index
Comparison
Follow Updates
Follow Lists
People
About Pye
Pye is a yield trading protocol on Solana. Its core business is splitting staked SOL into two tokens: Principal Tokens (PT) and Reward Tokens (RT). After deposit, the principal remains with the original validator and can be redeemed 1:1 at maturity; RT represents all staking rewards accrued until maturity, including inflation, MEV, and priority fees. Stakers can immediately sell RTs for SOL without waiting through the unstaking period. Trades settle on Pye Exchange's on-chain orderbook, with limit and market orders, all aligned to quarterly maturities.
It addresses the pain point that a large amount of staked SOL on Solana cannot enter DeFi. Traditional liquid staking requires switching validators, while Pye lets users keep their validator and gain liquidity. Validators also earn fees from trading. The protocol is non-custodial; staked assets are controlled by the program and audited by Zellic, Neodyme, and Sec3.
In the past six months (March to September 2026), Pye launched Speedstake mainnet on June 17, 2026, initially supporting over 60 whitelisted validators, with the process completing in under a minute. Current RT sales are discounted at approximately 16% annualized. Limitations: PTs have no secondary market yet; stakers must hold until quarterly maturity to redeem principal, and maturity dates are fixed at quarter-end.
Pye was founded in May 2024, aiming to transform traditional staking accounts on Solana into programmable financial instruments. It introduced the concept of Programmable Stake Accounts (PSA), splitting staking positions into Principal Tokens (PT) and Reward Tokens (RT).
In 2025, the protocol underwent multiple security audits by Zellic, Sec3, and Neodyme, laying a solid security foundation for its launch.
In December 2025, Pye completed a $5 million seed round led by Variant Fund and Coinbase Ventures, with participation from Solana Labs, Nascent, and Gemini, to accelerate product development and market expansion.
In Q1 2026, the protocol entered private beta, partnering with validators such as Solstice, Meria, and Stakin, and officially opened core features to users.
Key progress in the past six months (2026-03-02 to 2026-09-02):
On June 17, 2026, Pye launched Speedstake, allowing Solana native stakers to convert future rewards into immediate SOL without unstaking. The product splits staked positions into Principal Tokens (PT) and Reward Tokens (RT). RTs can be sold on an order book at an annualized discount of roughly 16%, with support for over 60 whitelisted validators and fixed quarterly settlement cycles.
Pye released the Validator Dashboard, giving validators tools for organization management, lockup creation, earnings tracking, CLI integration, and fee claiming. Later versions added staking SOL into fixed-term lockups, migrating existing stake accounts, and lockup durations of 1–6 months.
Pye Accounts were introduced as a new primitive built on Solana native staking, turning stake accounts into tradable financial instruments.
Future priorities: expand the secondary market for PTs, launch the embeddable Rewards Widget and Vaults product, and continue developing the Pye Exchange order book and validator-specific markets.
Co-founders and key executives of Pye:
Erik Ashdown (Co-founder/CEO): Previously led go-to-market at Covalent, a blockchain infrastructure company. He brings deep technical and business expertise, now overseeing Pye's overall strategy and growth.
Alberto Cevallos (Co-founder/CTO): Co-founded BadgerDAO. Focused on mechanism design, product, and go-to-market. Now leads Pye's technical architecture and R&D.