A new paradigm of liquid staking, understanding the decentralized margin trading protocol Glow Finance in one article.

Glow Finance provides a complementary suite of DeFi tools, built around Margin accounts, pooled lending, and automated strategies.

Written by: Fairy, ChainCatcher

Liquidity staking has always been a hot topic in the market, but most liquidity staking tokens remain at the stage of "yield packaging tools," lacking composability and strategic flexibility. This presents users with a dilemma: sacrifice asset liquidity for yield, or forgo yield to participate in more complex Decentralized Finance strategies.

Glow Finance aims to solve this problem. Glow helps users improve capital efficiency, manage risks flexibly, and execute complex strategies by integrating lending and trading functions.

What is Glow Finance?

Glow is a decentralized Margin trading protocol that offers a complete set of financial tools designed to maximize capital efficiency and broaden yield opportunities. Its cross-margin account feature allows for dynamic interaction between assets, enabling users to manage, borrow, and operate positions within a unified framework.

The core of Glow Finance is the liquidity engine of "Margin account + modular components". Users can engage in lending, trading, and asset management through a non-custodial Margin account, avoiding the need to frequently switch platforms. The account also supports sub-account functionality, similar to the sub-account operations of centralized exchanges, facilitating the deployment of advanced strategies and risk isolation.

Glow Finance product matrix:

• Glow Margin Accounts: Achieve cross-protocol, composable leverage, unlocking trading capabilities.
• Glow Strategy Recipes: Automated yield strategies that help users execute complex Decentralized Finance operations.
• $glowSOL: Supported by Solayer super validators, providing a liquid staking token (LRT) with quality yields on Solana.

Team Background and Project Progress

Nicholas Roberts-Huntley, co-founder of Glow Finance, holds a master's degree in evidence-based policy evaluation and economics from the University of Oxford. From 2013 to 2018, he worked as a physician in the medical field, focusing on various areas including urological oncology, emergency medicine, and colorectal surgery. After 2018, he transitioned into the venture capital field, serving as a venture capital architect at Virtual Ventures, then as a vice president at Point72, and founded Concrete in 2022.

Image source: Nicholas Roberts-Huntley

Glow Finance originated from the lending platform Jet Protocol. In October 2024, Blueprint Finance acquired Jet and undertook a comprehensive reconstruction, updating the technical architecture and redefining the product positioning. It is reported that the Blueprint Finance team previously developed the yield protocol Concrete in the Ethereum ecosystem. Concrete has currently accumulated over $650 million in TVL.

On April 14, Glow Finance officially launched on the Solana mainnet, but the team's vision goes beyond Solana. Nicholas Roberts-Huntley stated that Glow's architecture is already prepared for future expansion to include next-generation on-chain ecosystems based on the Solana Virtual Machine (SVM), such as Fogo and Atlas.

How Glow Finance Works

Glow Finance provides a suite of complementary DeFi tools, built around Margin accounts, pooled lending, and automated strategies.

Glow centralizes user assets into a Margin account and connects them to the Margin pool and external protocols through an adapter, ensuring that users can optimize fund efficiency while accessing various Decentralized Finance services.

Glow Core Architecture and Features

The leveraged SOL re-staking strategy is Glow's flagship strategy, aimed at maximizing returns and points from Glow and Solayer while avoiding exposure to the risk of SOL price fluctuations. This strategy creates a position with a selectable leverage multiple by using glowSOL and sSOL (Solayer's liquid staking token).

Users can obtain multiple SOL staking rewards in a separate margin account while earning dual points for Solayer and Glow, thus avoiding the price volatility risk of SOL. This position also effectively isolates risk due to Glow's independent margin account mechanism, preventing liquidation caused by SOL fluctuations.

Specific operation methods:

• The user creates a Glow Margin account and enters the "Leverage glowSOL Re-staking" page;
• Guided by the application interface, users can choose to deposit SOL from their wallet or existing Margin account and invest it into the strategy;
• The glowSOL held by users will continuously appreciate as staking rewards accumulate, thereby earning profits in a neutral position without price risk;
• glowSOL is also a wrapped sSOL, which means users can earn Glow points and Solayer points, with the amount of points earned increasing according to the chosen leverage multiple;
• Users borrow SOL and hold glowSOL, so the position is essentially neutral to SOL price fluctuations, avoiding downside price risks while enjoying the benefits of staking rewards. Users will not face liquidation risks unless the peg between SOL and sSOL breaks.