Exponent opened pre-deposits on 4 November 2026 for onycSOL, a SOL vault that adds reinsurance yield on top of staking yield. The strategy, managed by RockawayX, holds SOL in liquid staking tokens, borrows stablecoins against them on Kamino Finance KMNO$0.037+9.2%, and puts those stablecoins to work in OnRe ONyc$1.16+0.3%'s ONyc markets. Exponent says the vault starts with a $10M deposit cap and targets 7-8% APY in SOL terms.
What onycSOL is: a managed SOL vault token on Exponent
onycSOL is the receipt token for a managed strategy vault on Exponent. Depositors keep their exposure to SOL's price while the vault tries to earn more than staking alone. Exponent introduced it as "a new SOL token powered by RWA yield from ONyc", with staking yield plus reinsurance returns.
The pitch is aimed at a real problem for SOL holders. In its announcement thread, Exponent wrote that "SOL yield opportunities have declined over the past year, while RWAs like ONyc have flourished." The average staker earned about 4.9% in epoch 1076 (ending 3 November 2026), according to our staking data. JitoSOL, one of the three tokens in the vault's basket, has returned about 4.8% a year based on how its pool's SOL value has grown, per its stake pool page on Solana Compass (4 November 2026). The vault's 7-8% target is therefore about two to three percentage points above plain staking, and that gap has to come from the stablecoin side of the trade after borrowing costs.
RockawayX, an investment firm that has described itself as managing over $1.5 billion and that co-led OnRe's $5M Series A with Forward Industries, confirmed its role in its own post: "We're managing the new onycSOL vault on @ExponentFinance, designed to combine SOL staking yield with @onrefinance's reinsurance-backed returns while maintaining SOL exposure."
How the onycSOL strategy works: LSTs, Kamino borrowing and ONyc
The strategy is a carry trade: borrow one asset cheaply against collateral and earn a higher yield with it. Per Exponent's strategy post, deposits go into a basket of three liquid staking tokens: JitoSOL, fwdSOL from Forward Industries, and hSOL from Helius hSOL$113.04+1.2%. Those tokens keep earning staking yield while they sit on Kamino as collateral.
Against that collateral the vault borrows USDC and USDG, then spreads the stablecoins across three ONyc exposures:
- USDC lending in OnRe's markets on Kamino
- srONyc, the senior tranche of ONyc on Exponent, held spot and as a carry position
- PT-ONyc, Exponent's fixed-rate principal token on ONyc, held the same way
ONyc is OnRe's yield-bearing token for a share of short-duration reinsurance underwriting, backed by stablecoin collateral. OnRe's documentation says the issuer, OnRe SAC Ltd., is regulated by the Bermuda Monetary Authority, and that OnRe targets a 10-12% base APY from underwriting. ONyc has more than 9,500 holders, according to its token page on Solana Compass on 4 November 2026. We have tracked ONyc's growth on Solana since its Kamino lending market crossed $150M in June, and Exponent's senior and junior split of its yield since the tranching launch. The day before onycSOL, Kamino opened a PT-ONyc market where holders can borrow USDG against Exponent's PT-ONyc.
Exponent says every active position behind onycSOL is onchain and visible on the deposit page, with full allocation details.
onycSOL pre-deposit phase, guardrails and the $10M cap
The vault does not run the full strategy on day one. Exponent says the pre-deposit phase is scheduled to last two weeks, during which deposited SOL sits in the LST basket earning staking yield. The vault then deploys gradually into the OnRe markets and ONyc positions. Pre-deposit rewards accrue to the onycSOL position, and the token also earns 4x OnRe Points alongside $20,000 in monthly SOL incentives, per Exponent's thread.
onycSOL is built on Exponent Strategy Vaults. Per Exponent's guardrails post, RockawayX manages the vault through onchain policies enforced by Squads, capital can only go into approved assets and protocols, strategy changes pass through a timelock, and fees and vault policies are disclosed upfront. Exponent's vault roles documentation says the manager key is not the vault's fund-holding account: assets sit under the Squads smart account.
Withdrawals are processed through a weekly redemption window, and Exponent's yield post says secondary market liquidity is "expected to follow".
The risks behind the 7-8% onycSOL target
The 7-8% figure is a target set by Exponent and RockawayX with no guarantee attached, and capital in the vault is at risk. Each layer of the strategy carries its own risk.
The borrowing leg is the most direct. The vault owes stablecoins against SOL-based collateral, so a sharp fall in SOL, a depeg in one of the three LSTs, or a spike in borrow rates on Kamino can squeeze the position or trigger liquidation. On the ONyc side, returns depend on reinsurance underwriting, which includes property catastrophe exposure per OnRe's documentation. OnRe says claims beyond reserves are absorbed by adjusting yield rather than principal, which protects the token's value but can cut the income the vault is counting on. Smart contract risk spans Exponent, Kamino and the LST programs. Exits also take time: onycSOL redeems weekly, and OnRe says ONyc redemptions are subject to redemption windows, holding periods and liquidity availability.
What to watch as onycSOL rolls out
The things to check over the next two weeks are how fast the $10M cap fills, how the vault splits capital across the three ONyc positions once deployment starts, and the fee schedule and timelock length on the deposit page. Realised returns against the 7-8% target will show whether the borrow-and-carry spread holds once the strategy is fully live.
For Solana, onycSOL is another sign that reinsurance yield issued on the network is becoming a building block for other products. A SOL holder can now reach it in one deposit without leaving SOL exposure, through a stack of Solana protocols: Jito JTO$0.370+4.7%, Helius and Forward Industries for staking, Kamino for borrowing, Exponent for fixed-rate and tranche positions, and Squads for vault custody.
