> Solana Developer Platform docs, served as Markdown. The [docs index](https://platform-beta.solana.com/docs.md) lists every page and [llms.txt](https://platform-beta.solana.com/docs/ai/llms.txt) the key ones; [SKILL.md](https://platform-beta.solana.com/SKILL.md) has the rules for building on SDP.

# How Earn works

Strategies, positions and shares, who signs, and how each deposit and withdrawal settles.

> **Earn is under active development.** Features, API endpoints, and docs may change.

Earn moves your customer's stablecoins into a strategy and back out again.
This page explains the pieces you work with and the rules that keep balances
honest.

## Key terms

| Term | Meaning |
| --- | --- |
| Strategy | A yield source in the catalog: a lending market, a vault, or a yield-bearing token. Each takes one deposit token. |
| Position | One customer wallet's holding in one strategy. |
| Shares | The units a position holds. Withdrawals spend shares, not dollars. |
| Movement | SDP's record of one deposit or withdrawal, from submit to finality. |
| Withdrawal request | SDP's record of a withdrawal that pays out later, through a solver queue or an operator redemption. |
| External wallet | A wallet SDP holds no key for, such as your customer's own wallet. The `/external-wallet/` routes and `ownerAddress` refer to it. |

## Strategies

| Source | Where yield comes from |
| --- | --- |
| DeFi (`sourceKind: "defi"`) | Onchain lending markets and vaults. Returns move with protocol activity. |
| Real-world assets (`sourceKind: "rwa"`) | Tokenized investments backed by assets such as US Treasuries. Returns and redemptions follow the issuer's terms. |

`sourceKind` says where yield comes from, not how a withdrawal settles. Read
each position's [withdrawal options](/docs/earn/withdrawals#1-choose-a-route)
to see which routes it supports. [Strategies](/docs/earn/strategies) covers
the catalog and how to choose.

## Positions and shares

Three amounts describe a position:

| Amount | Field | What it tells you |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Shares | `shares` | How much of the strategy the wallet owns, in share units. |
| Share value | `tokenValue` | What those shares are worth now, in the deposit token. |
| Withdrawable shares | `withdrawableShares` | How many shares can leave right now, after locks and liquidity. |

A withdrawal names a share amount, and its payout depends on the strategy's
live state. Quote it with a
[withdrawal preview](/docs/earn/withdrawals#2-withdraw-instantly) instead of
multiplying by an old rate. A missing live value means unavailable, never
zero.

## Who signs

SDP never holds your customer's key. Every deposit and withdrawal follows the
same four steps:

1. Your backend asks SDP to **build** an unsigned transaction.
2. Your customer's wallet **signs** it, without changing or broadcasting it.
3. Your backend **submits** the signed transaction to SDP.
4. SDP verifies it, records a movement, broadcasts it, and tracks it.

Keep your API key on your backend. It can read every position your project
records, so your backend decides which customer may act on which wallet. See
[Embedded Yield](/docs/guides/embedded-yield#authenticate-on-your-backend).

## How a movement settles

| Status | Meaning |
| --- | --- |
| `requested` | SDP recorded the signed transaction and has not seen it onchain yet. |
| `submitted` | SDP broadcast the transaction. |
| `confirmed` | The network confirmed it. Final for display only when settlement is `atomic`. |
| `finalized` | The transaction is final. |
| `failed` | It did not land. `failureReason` says why. |

A movement's `settlement` decides when funds have really moved:

- **`atomic`**: the deposit or withdrawal happens in one transaction. You may
  show it as done at `confirmed` while SDP tracks it to `finalized`.
- **`provider_order`**: the transaction places an order that the provider
  completes later. Confirmation proves the order, not the payout: the
  movement stays `confirmed` until the provider completes it, and only
  `finalized` means it is done.

Withdrawals through a solver queue or an operator redemption also pay out
later. Track them as [withdrawal requests](/docs/earn/withdrawals#track-a-request),
and credit funds only when the payout arrives.

## Where funds go

A vault or lending deposit exchanges the deposit token for shares in the
customer's wallet. A token strategy acquires the yield-bearing token itself.
Either way, the deposited stablecoins go to the protocol or provider, never to
an SDP-owned account.

**warn**

Never send tokens to a strategy's `providerReference`. It identifies the
instrument, not a deposit address. Deposit only through a transaction SDP
builds.

Holding shares in the customer's own wallet does not remove the provider's
custody, liquidity, or withdrawal risks. A position's value can rise or fall
with returns, losses, and fees.

## Sandbox and production

Your API key's project decides the network: a sandbox project runs on devnet
with test tokens, and a production project runs on mainnet with real funds.
The API host and every request stay the same. See
[Go to mainnet](/docs/guides/go-to-mainnet) when you are ready to move.

Next, [make your first deposit](/docs/earn/quickstart) or
[choose a strategy](/docs/earn/strategies).