Kamino: The Next Chapter

Solana's dominant lending protocol Kamino is making its biggest play yet for institutional adoption, unveiling five transformative products designed to bridge the gap between traditional finance requirements and on-chain capabilities. With over $10 billion in loans issued and a perfect track record of zero bad debt, Kamino is positioning itself as the go-to platform for a new wave of sophisticated borrowers.

Summary

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Kamino co-founder Marius Ciubotariu took the stage at Breakpoint 2025 to announce a comprehensive suite of new features that address the specific needs of institutional players and real-world asset (RWA) issuers. The announcement comes at a pivotal moment as traditional finance increasingly looks to move operations on-chain, but faces fundamental incompatibilities with current DeFi infrastructure.

The core problem Kamino is solving is straightforward: DeFi was built for crypto-native assets and users, but the next wave of growth will come from institutions with regulatory requirements, fixed-rate needs, and complex custody arrangements. Current lending protocols offer variable rates that can spike unexpectedly, require collateral to be moved on-chain, and struggle to price assets whose value is determined off-chain.

Kamino's solution is a multi-pronged approach that maintains the protocol's core strength—a single coherent platform—while adding the flexibility needed for institutional adoption. The five new products span fixed-rate lending, off-chain collateral custody, private credit access, a specialized decentralized exchange for RWAs, and a comprehensive API suite for FinTechs and exchanges looking to integrate Kamino's infrastructure.

The timing of this announcement reflects broader market dynamics. Real-world assets are flooding onto Solana, institutions are increasingly mandated to explore digital asset strategies, and the infrastructure gap between what DeFi offers and what institutions need has never been clearer. Kamino is betting that solving this gap will define the next chapter of on-chain lending.

Key Points:

Fixed-Rate, Fixed-Term Borrowing

One of the most significant announcements is the introduction of fixed-rate, fixed-term borrowing on Kamino. Currently, borrowers on DeFi protocols are at the mercy of interest rate curves that can swing wildly based on utilization and market conditions. This volatility has been a major barrier for institutional adoption, as companies need predictable costs of capital for their treasury operations and investment strategies.

Under the new system, borrowers will be able to place "borrowing tents"—essentially limit orders specifying the rate and term they're willing to accept. This creates a true order book for interest rates, enabling price discovery for yield curves on-chain for the first time. Kamino has partnered with Falcon X, one of the largest prime brokers in the cryptocurrency industry, to design and launch this product. The implications are substantial: RWA loopers can now guarantee their spreads, institutions can lock in borrowing costs, and lenders can set their own terms rather than accepting whatever the protocol offers.

Off-Chain Collateral Custody

Perhaps the most institutionally significant announcement is support for off-chain collateral custody. Many institutions face regulatory constraints that prevent them from moving assets from qualified custodians—a fundamental requirement of current DeFi lending protocols. This has locked out entire categories of potential borrowers who want on-chain exposure but cannot comply with typical DeFi collateral requirements.

Kamino is solving this through partnerships with established digital asset treasury companies. The protocol announced a go-live partnership with Fala Company, described as one of the biggest digital asset treasury companies on Solana. This structure allows institutions to borrow on Kamino while their collateral remains with their regulated custodian, opening the door to a massive pool of previously inaccessible capital.

Private Credit Integration

Recognizing that much of the world's lending activity happens off-chain due to jurisdictional regulations, Kamino is building bridges to private credit markets. The protocol has worked with various structures and issuers to make private credit yields accessible on-chain, effectively allowing users in permissioned jurisdictions to tap into yield opportunities that were previously unavailable to them.

This feature addresses a fundamental reality: not all borrowing and lending can or should happen fully on-chain, but that doesn't mean those yields should be inaccessible to the broader market. By creating compliant structures for private credit access, Kamino is expanding its addressable market while maintaining regulatory soundness.

Real-World Asset Decentralized Exchange

Kamino is launching a specialized decentralized exchange designed specifically for real-world assets. Traditional AMMs (automated market makers) are poorly suited for assets whose prices are determined off-chain—whether through exchange trading or net asset value calculations. This has created friction for issuers wanting to bring their tokens to Solana, as launching liquidity on existing AMMs is awkward and capital-inefficient.

The new DEX allows assets to trade at their off-chain determined prices, making it significantly easier for issuers to establish liquidity and subsequently use their assets as collateral on Kamino. This creates a smoother pipeline from asset issuance to lending market integration, potentially accelerating the flow of real-world assets onto Solana.

Build Kit for FinTechs and Exchanges

The final product announcement is a comprehensive suite of APIs and SDKs designed for FinTechs and exchanges that want to integrate Kamino's infrastructure into their own products. Kamino describes this as tapping into the protocol's "modular infrastructure for yield and for borrowing," essentially allowing external platforms to offer Kamino's capabilities under their own branding.

This B2B approach recognizes that many end users will interact with on-chain yield and borrowing through interfaces built by traditional financial technology companies rather than directly through DeFi protocols. By providing robust developer tools, Kamino is positioning itself as infrastructure rather than just a user-facing product.

New Brand Identity

Alongside the product announcements, Kamino unveiled a complete rebrand. While details were limited in the presentation, the new visual identity is meant to reflect the protocol's evolution from a crypto-native lending platform to an institutional-grade financial infrastructure provider. The rebrand signals Kamino's ambition to compete not just with other DeFi protocols but with traditional financial services.

Facts + Figures

• Kamino has issued over $10 billion in loans since launch, establishing it as Solana's dominant lending platform

• The protocol has generated over $100 million in interest revenue for its users

• Total asset supply on Kamino exceeds $4 billion

• Zero instances of bad debt have been accrued to users throughout the entire past cycle—a remarkable achievement for a DeFi lending protocol

• Kamino is partnering with Falcon X, one of the cryptocurrency industry's largest prime brokers, for the fixed-rate product launch

• The off-chain collateral custody feature is launching with Fala Company, described as one of Solana's biggest digital asset treasury companies

• Five new products are being launched simultaneously: fixed-rate lending, off-chain collateral custody, private credit integration, an RWA-focused DEX, and a developer build kit

• The protocol is undergoing a complete rebrand alongside the product launches

Top quotes

• "For the past cycle, there has been no single instance of bad debt accrued to users. This is the foundation on which we're building."

• "Everything is moving on chain. New assets are coming to the chain every day. And new borrowers and new players are coming to the chain every day."

• "DeFi was built for the old world of crypto-native assets and crypto-native players."

• "Borrowers need fixed rates, especially when they're looping RWA or when they want to guarantee cost of capital."

• "This allows institutions that need a guaranteed cost of capital to come to Kamino."

• "They cannot move their collateral from qualified custodians."

• "The biggest, most important, distinguishing feature of these assets is that price discovery is happening off-chain."

• "The same coherent platform for borrowing and lending upgraded—fixed rates, off-chain collateral, the build kit, and the real-world asset DEX for issuers."

Questions Answered

What problem is Kamino trying to solve with these new products?

Current DeFi lending protocols were designed for crypto-native users and assets, but the next wave of adoption will come from institutions and real-world asset issuers who have fundamentally different requirements. Institutions need fixed rates for predictable cost of capital, they often cannot move collateral from qualified custodians due to regulations, and real-world assets have prices determined off-chain rather than through on-chain mechanisms. Kamino's five new products address each of these friction points, creating infrastructure that meets institutional needs while maintaining the benefits of on-chain lending.

How does fixed-rate borrowing work on Kamino?

Users can place "borrowing tents," which function like limit orders specifying the interest rate and loan term they're willing to accept. When a matching lender order exists, the loan is executed at those fixed terms. This creates true price discovery for interest rates on-chain and allows both borrowers and lenders to set their own terms rather than accepting variable rates determined by utilization curves. The system was designed in partnership with Falcon X and is particularly valuable for institutions that need to guarantee their cost of capital or RWA strategists who need to lock in spreads.

How can institutions borrow on Kamino without moving their collateral on-chain?

Kamino has developed structures that allow collateral to remain with qualified custodians while still enabling on-chain borrowing. Through partnerships with digital asset treasury companies like Fala Company, institutions can satisfy their regulatory requirements around custody while accessing Kamino's lending markets. This removes a major barrier that has prevented many regulated entities from participating in DeFi lending, potentially unlocking significant new capital flows into the Solana ecosystem.

Why is Kamino launching a specialized DEX for real-world assets?

Traditional AMMs struggle with assets whose prices are determined off-chain—whether through centralized exchange trading or net asset value calculations. Issuers have found it awkward and capital-inefficient to launch liquidity for these assets on existing decentralized exchanges. Kamino's new DEX allows assets to trade at their off-chain determined prices, creating a smoother pathway for issuers to establish liquidity and subsequently use their tokens as collateral on Kamino's lending markets.

What is the Kamino build kit and who is it for?

The build kit is a suite of APIs and SDKs that allows FinTechs, exchanges, and other platforms to integrate Kamino's lending and yield infrastructure into their own products. Rather than users needing to interact directly with Kamino's interface, they can access the protocol's capabilities through third-party applications. This positions Kamino as modular infrastructure that can power lending functionality across the broader financial technology ecosystem, recognizing that many end users will prefer familiar interfaces over native DeFi applications.

Has Kamino experienced any bad debt?

No. Throughout the entire past market cycle, Kamino has maintained a perfect record with zero instances of bad debt accrued to users. This is particularly notable given the volatility of crypto markets and the challenges other lending protocols have faced with liquidation mechanisms and risk management. Kamino presents this track record as the foundation for its expansion into institutional markets, where counterparty risk and protocol security are paramount concerns.