How to Lend on Solend: Step by Step Guide.

Here's the deal: Lending on Solend is dead simple if you've got a Solana wallet and some assets chilling. You deposit crypto, earn interest automatically, and yeah, it's way cheaper than Ethereum stuff-fees are like 0.000005 SOL per transaction, basically nothing. Go to solend.fi right now. That's your starting point. I usually hit it up on my phone with Phantom wallet, works flawless.

Okay, you need a Solana wallet. Phantom's my go to-download it, create or import, fund it with SOL for gas. USDC or whatever you're lending? Bridge it over from Ethereum if needed, but use something like Jupiter for cheap swaps.

Why SOL? Every tx needs a tiny bit, like under $0.01. In my experience, run at least 0.05 SOL balance to avoid hiccups.

Connect and Pick Your Pool

1. Hit Connect Wallet top right on solend.fi. Pick Phantom, Backpack, whatever-approves in seconds.
2. Now scan the pools. They've got 29 pools, 136 assets. Main Pool for big boys like SOL, USDC, USDT, BTC. Stable Pool for low risk stables. Isolated pools for riskier tokens-community governs listings, so stuff like memecoins pops up.
3. Click All Pools dropdown. Filter by what you wanna lend. Say USDC? Jump in Stable Pool, APYs hover 5-15% depending on demand, changes real time.

The thing is, pools matter. High utilization? Better rates for you as lender, but borrowing gets pricier. Check the dashboard-shows Supply APY live.

What's Utilization Mean?

It's how packed the pool is. Under 80%? Chill rates. Over? Rates spike to pull in more lenders like you. Why care? Your earnings scale with it. I check this before dumping in.

Lending: The Actual Steps

Alright, core stuff. Pick your asset, say SOL.

1. Click the token card. Tabs: Supply, Borrow, Repay, Withdraw. Hit Supply.
2. Enter amount. Max? All you got, but leave buffer. Reads out Borrow Limit (what you could borrow against this), Utilization, Supply APY. For SOL, expect 4-10% base, plus SLND rewards sometimes.
3. Click Supply. Pop up: Approve first (one time for token), then Sign tx. Boom, done. Gets you cTokens that accrue interest.

Short sentence. Earns passive. I usually lend USDC for steady 6-8%, SOL for higher juice.

Pro move: Enable collateral. Toggle it on after supply-now you can borrow against it. But don't max out, or liquidation risk bites.

Risks? Yeah, They Exist

Liquidation threshold's. For Tier 1 like SOL/USDC, it's 80-90%. Borrow too much, collateral drops (SOL dumps 20%), bots liquidate you at penalty-loses 5-10% collateral value.

Solution? Keep utilization under 80%. Dashboard screams red if close. In my experience, set alerts or check daily. Price crash? Repay quick or add collateral.

• Oracle fails: Rare on Solana, but if prices glitch, positions auto liquidate.
• Smart contract bugs: Solend's audited, bug bounty live, but DeFi's wild.
• Fees: Borrow fee ~0.3%, but tx gas negligible.

Earnings Breakdown

Asset	Typical Supply APY	Collateral Factor	Liquidation Threshold
SOL	4-12%	75-85%	80-90%
USDC/USDT	5-15%	75-85%	80-90%
BTC/ETH	3-10%	70-80%	75-85%
Tier 3 tokens	10-30%+	50-65%	55-70%

Numbers flex with market. SLND rewards extra-lenders get 'em proportional to supply. Stake or sell for more yield.

Dynamic rates: Low util = base rate low. Hits optimal (around 80%), slopes up. Over? Steep climb. Keeps pools balanced.

Withdraw and That's It?

Nope. To pull out:

1. Dashboard > Assets Supplied. Pick token.
2. Enter amount. If borrowed against it, repay first or utilization spikes.
3. Withdraw > Approve/Sign. Back to wallet instant.

Easy. But if pool's low liquidity? Might wait, rare tho-Solend's $290m borrowed TVL keeps it liquid.

Common Screw Ups and Fixes

Stuck tx? Solana congestion-wait or retry. Wallet not connecting? Clear cache, switch networks (Mainnet).

Borrow limit zero? No collateral enabled. Toggle it.

Liquidation panic? Dashboard shows exact threshold. Repay partial: Pick borrowed asset, enter amount, Repay. Needs approval if first time. Question: Borrowed max, now wanna adjust? Repay some, supply more collateral. Keeps you safe.

Flash Loans? Advanced, But Fun

Want arbitrage? Borrow uncollateralized, repay same block. Pros use for swaps across DEXes. Not for noobs-code it or integrate with bots.

Why Lend Here Over Others?

Solana speed: 1000s TPS, sub second confirms. Gas? Pennies. Marginfi/Kamino good too, but Solend's pools deeper for majors. In my experience, yields beat CEX by 2-5% after rewards.

Isolated pools limit blast radius-one bad token tanks one pool, not all. Permissionless creation? Communities spin up custom ones.

Honestly, start small. Lend 100 USDC, watch APY tick up. Compound weekly by withdrawing/re supplying. Scales nice.

Track Your Bag

Your Account tab: Total supplied, borrowed, utilization %, liquidation risk. Red bar? Danger. Green? Chill.

I screenshot this daily. Sound familiar? Apps like Zerion integrate Solend positions too.

One more: SLND governance. Hold/vote on upgrades. Pools get boosted yields sometimes-farm those.