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A Solana Rent Refund with a $360M Airdrop is making headlines after a new Solana upgrade started freeing $SOL that was previously needed to keep on-chain accounts open. The change is called SIMD-0437, and its first stage is already live. As Solana gradually cuts account storage requirements by up to 90%, some wallets can recover excess $SOL from accounts they created through past activity.
If you have used Solana before, your wallet may have $SOL that can now be recovered.
Using Solana creates small on-chain accounts for tokens and other blockchain activity. These accounts need to keep a minimum amount of $SOL as a refundable storage deposit. Solana calls this “rent”, although it works more like a refundable bond than a fee.
Following the first stage of SIMD-0437 and Solana’s Reduced Rent upgrade, that requirement fell from 6,960 to 6,333 lamports per byte, about a 9% reduction. The five-stage rollout ultimately targets 696 lamports per byte, cutting the previous requirement by 90%.
Older accounts may therefore hold more $SOL than they need today.
That extra $SOL can be withdrawn from supported accounts and returned to your wallet. You do not necessarily need to close the account or move the tokens held there. Solana’s official How to Reclaim Excess SOL After Rent Reduction guide explains how WithdrawExcessLamports removes the surplus while leaving the account open and its token balance untouched.
Not every Solana wallet will have $SOL to reclaim. Your amount depends on which on-chain accounts your wallet controls and whether they currently hold more $SOL than the new minimum.
People who have traded tokens, used DeFi, collected NFTs, played Solana games or interacted with many apps may have more accounts worth checking than someone who only created a wallet and held $SOL.
The “$360M airdrop” buzz comes from estimates that around 3.4M $SOL will be freed across Solana as all five rent cuts activate. Stage 1 is already live, and each later phase will lower the rent requirement further, unlocking more $SOL from funded accounts.
Start with Solana’s official How to Reclaim Excess SOL After Rent Reduction guide to understand how the reclaim works.
WithdrawExcessLamports to recover $SOL sitting above the current rent-exempt minimum without closing the account.Hard·~10minSelect the eligible accounts and claim the excess $SOL back to your wallet.
WithdrawExcessLamports takes only the $SOL above the current rent requirement. The account stays open and the tokens remain untouched.Easy·~2minToday’s reclaimable $SOL may not be your final amount.
After checking your wallet, see which Solana opportunities are active right now.