👻 How to use delayed unstaking with Phantom

Unstake vSOL at the full pool rate with a delayed unstake, then turn the stake account into SOL in Phantom.

A delayed unstake gives you the full pool value of your vSOL, minus a 0.1% fee, but not straight away.

Banner: A participant holds a simple cream wallet beside an orange hourglass and an orange droplet token resting on a curved waiting path.

Need your SOL right now? Use Instant unstake instead. It swaps vSOL for SOL immediately through the Unstake Pool, for a small fee. See How to unstake your LST.

If you use Solflare, see How to use delayed unstaking with Solflare.

Unstake your vSOL

The Vault sends your SOL to one or more stake accounts in your wallet. You then unstake those accounts in Phantom, wait for the current Solana epoch to end, and withdraw the SOL (Figure 3.19).

Delayed unstaking sends the full pool value of vSOL minus a 0.1% fee into one or more stake accounts that must each be unstaked, remain Deactivating until the epoch ends, become Inactive, and then be withdrawn as SOL to the main balance; when lots of stake leaves at once, part may take one more epoch.

Figure 3.19: From vSOL to SOL

Start a delayed unstake on The Vault

Go to thevault.finance and tap Open dapp. The first time, tick both boxes and tap I Agree.
On the Stake page, open the Delayed unstake tab.
Enter how much vSOL to unstake.
Tap Connect Wallet, choose Phantom, and approve the transaction in Phantom.

You receive your SOL in one or more stake accounts. Larger amounts can be split across several stake accounts, so Phantom may ask you to approve more than one transaction.

Unstake each stake account in Phantom

These steps are the same in the Phantom browser extension and the mobile app.

Open Solana from your token list.
Under Native Stakes, open Other.
Select a stake account from your delayed unstake.
Select Unstake and approve.

The stake account now shows Deactivating. Repeat these steps for every stake account you received.

Wait for the epoch to end

A stake account finishes deactivating when the current Solana epoch ends. An epoch currently lasts about 32 hours, so the wait is anywhere from a few minutes to about a day and a half, depending on when you unstaked. You can follow epoch progress on Solana Explorer or solanabeach.io.

Network-wide deactivation limits can make the process span additional epochs. Use the stake account's status and your wallet's estimate instead of assuming the next epoch is guaranteed.

Withdraw your SOL

Open Solana from your token list.
Under Native Stakes, open Other.
Select the stake account that now shows Inactive.
Select Withdraw Stake and approve.

The SOL moves to your main Phantom balance and the stake account closes. Repeat for each stake account.

Good to know

Unstake first: SOL can only be withdrawn once a stake account is Inactive. A stake account you have not unstaked stays delegated to its validator.
Fees: creating stake accounts requires a refundable rent deposit, and each transaction has a network fee. Keep enough SOL for the amounts shown by the wallet, especially when a withdrawal creates several accounts.
Instant or delayed: instant unstaking depends on available liquidity and the current quote. Delayed unstaking withdraws at the pool rate, less the withdrawal fee, into stake accounts. Withdraw SOL only after those accounts finish deactivating.