Pye

Pye is a Validator DeFi protocol built on Solana that introduces Programmable Stake Accounts (PSAs) — a financial primitive that wraps native Solana stake accounts with timelocks and tokenization logic. By separating a staked position into two distinct SPL tokens, Pye enables stakers to trade future rewards and gives validators tools to compete on product terms rather than commission alone.

The Problem Pye Addresses

Solana's native staking is effective but illiquid. Stakers commit SOL to a validator, earn inflation rewards, MEV, and priority fees over time, but cannot access future earnings without unstaking — a process that takes multiple epochs. Liquid staking tokens solve part of this but require giving up the direct validator relationship and moving into a pooled wrapper.

Pye does not replace native staking. Instead it adds a programmability and liquidity layer on top of it, leaving each staker's validator relationship intact.

Programmable Stake Accounts

The core mechanism is the Programmable Stake Account (PSA). When a staker deposits SOL or an existing stake account into a PSA, they choose a validator and a maturity date. The protocol locks the position until maturity and mints two SPL tokens:

Principal Token (PT): Represents the original SOL deposit, redeemable 1:1 at maturity. The principal is structurally protected from commission changes or validator underperformance — those factors affect yield but not the return of the deposit. PTs trade at a discount to face value on the open market because buyers accept a fixed lockup in exchange for acquiring SOL below par.

Reward Token (RT): Represents the staking rewards — inflation, MEV, and priority fees — that the locked position will generate from deposit to maturity. RT quantities are minted using a time-weighted formula, so early depositors receive proportionally more RTs for the same capital: a larger share of the reward window remains ahead of them. Rewards compound epoch by epoch at the validator's commission-adjusted rate and are distributed pro-rata to RT holders at maturity.

The staker's SOL remains delegated throughout. Pye does not take custody of validator keys, and the tokenization layer sits on top of the existing delegation rather than replacing it.

Speedstake

Speedstake is Pye's primary consumer product. It lets stakers sell their freshly minted RTs on the orderbook immediately after locking a position, converting future yield into present SOL without unstaking. The validator relationship is preserved; the staker simply assigns the right to receive rewards to a market buyer.

The discount rate — the spread between what the staker receives today and what the RT would pay at maturity — is determined by orderbook supply and demand. Thin markets for smaller validators produce wider discounts; deep markets for popular validators narrow them.

Validator partners including Everstake have integrated Speedstake directly, making the product accessible to their delegators without leaving the validator's own interface.

Pye Exchange

The Pye Exchange is an on-chain orderbook for PTs and RTs — described by the team as the first dedicated orderbook for native Solana staking rewards. It supports both limit orders (targeting a specific discount rate against a validator or LST market) and market orders (filling immediately at the best available rate). Maturities are fixed quarterly dates. Pye earns revenue through trading fees on this orderbook; there are no deposit or minting fees for stakers.

Validator Tools

Pye routes distribution through validators rather than competing with them. Validators are whitelisted before appearing on the platform. Once onboarded, they can:

• Embed a rewards widget (published as the pye-widget npm package, available in light, dark, and graphite themes) on their own site so delegators can use Speedstake without leaving the validator's brand.
• Use the Pye Validator Dashboard at dashboard.pye.fi to configure lockup products, set reward structures, and track performance without CLI tooling.
• Run the Custom Commissions CLI (pye-cli-2, open source in Rust on GitHub) to offer delegators commission terms that differ from their public on-chain rate.

Confirmed validator partners include Everstake, Solstice, Meria, and Stakin by The Tie.

Funding

In December 2025, Pye raised a $5 million seed round led by Variant and Coinbase Ventures, with additional participation from Solana Labs, Nascent, and Gemini. The company was founded by Erik Ashdown and Alberto Cevallos and ran a closed alpha before the raise. Pye targeted a private beta launch in the first quarter of 2026.

Security

The protocol has undergone five independent smart contract audits across two major versions:

• Zellic — January 2025 (V1)
• Sec3 — March 2025 (V1)
• Neodyme — June 2025 (V2)
• Sec3 — November 2025 (V2)
• Neodyme — November 2025 (V2 revised)

All reports are publicly available in the pyefi/security GitHub repository. Disclosed risks include validator downtime (halts RT earnings but leaves PTs whole), unexpected commission increases (reduces RT yields), smart contract risk despite audits, and thin liquidity for less popular validators.

Current Status

Pye's main program (PYEQZ2qYHPQapnw8Ms8MSPMNzoq59NHHfNwAtuV26wx) is deployed and marked live on Solana Mainnet. GitHub repositories (pye-widget, pye-stake-utils, pye-cli-2) were updated as recently as July 2026. The main site, documentation, and exchange access points are all reachable.