Solana layer-2 blockchain Sonic has surpassed a significant staking milestone, announcing a new partnership to promote the growing restaking industry on the Solana network.

Sonic , the first gaming-focused Solana Virtual Machine (SVM) L2 network , has partnered with restaking platform Solayer and liquid restaking layer Adrastea, to enhance Solana delegator rewards.

The partnership comes as Sonic SVM surpassed $50 million worth of Solana ( SOL ) staked delegation on Solayer, according to an announcement shared with Cointelegraph.

This makes Sonic SVM the largest delegated AVS (Actively Validated Service) on Solayer.

The $50 million milestone highlights the growth potential of Solana’s staking and restaking ecosystem, according to Chris Zhu, founder and CEO at Sonic SVM. He told Cointelegraph:

“It highlights the growing sophistication and maturity of Solana’s decentralized services, like Sonic AVS, where liquid staking tokens now extend beyond basic staking to enhance security and value for a range of services including network extensions.”

Liquid staking grew into the largest protocol category on Ethereum, worth a cumulative $44 billion in total value locked (TVL), while restaking is worth $15 billion, as the fifth largest protocol category, according to DefiLlama data.

Sonic SVM tops $50M in Solana staking, announces new partnerships image 0

Ethereum by protocol categories. Source: DefiLlama

Some blockchain builders are expecting to see similar explosive growth from Solana-based restaking and liquid staking solutions.

Related: Can liquid staking tokens depeg due to market volatility?

Can Solana restaking rival Ethereum’s growth?

Solana-based restaking could be poised for significant growth, potentially matching Ethereum’s ecosystem, according to Sonic’s Zhu.

The innovation from other Solana-based protocols like Jito, Solayer and Fragmetric could significantly contribute to the restaking ecosystem on the network, Zhu said, adding:

“Solana is setting the stage for a future where its ecosystem is both highly decentralized and capable of managing more complex, high-stakes applications. This dynamic approach could propel Solana’s staking ecosystem into a central role, potentially exceeding Ethereum's in versatility and adoption.”

Related: Crypto surges in Eastern Europe: DeFi drives 33% of transactions

Others also see potential in the niche. Bybit Research expects Solana-based liquid staking to increase over fivefold due to sustained retail adoption.

Bybit Research told Cointelegraph:

“In our view, Solana has a huge potential for liquid staking due to its active staking community. Based on Ethereum’s LST market statistics, Solana’s LST market could potentially grow to $18 billion.”
Sonic SVM tops $50M in Solana staking, announces new partnerships image 1

Liquid staking TVL, Solana. Source: DefiLlama

Solana-based liquid staking is worth $5.9 billion in TVL at publication, DefiLlama data shows.

Magazine: We took an ETHSafari to see how crypto is working out in Africa