Kamino, the leading DeFi lending protocol on Solana, has undergone a major rebrand and expansion, moving beyond its retail-focused, memecoin-collateralized lending model. The announcement was made during the Solana Breakpoint event in Abu Dhabi, where the team unveiled six new products designed to pivot the platform toward institutional credit, real-world asset (RWA) infrastructure, and developer tools.
The rebrand follows a strong year where Kamino amassed $2.59 billion in total value locked (TVL), capturing a dominant 75% share of the lending TVL across the Solana ecosystem. This growth was largely driven by an aggressive strategy of accepting volatile memecoins as collateral. However, the recent slowdown in the Solana memecoin market and the associated risks prompted the team to seek a more stable and scalable business model.
The core of the new strategy is a formal entry into the real-world asset (RWA) sector. Kamino aims to build a bridge between asset tokenization and DeFi by launching a specialized decentralized exchange (DEX) for tokenized assets. This will be supported by enhanced oracle infrastructure and precise pricing tools. The goal is to channel this new liquidity into usable on-chain credit, a niche currently underdeveloped on Solana beyond early experiments like XStocks.
For institutional clients, Kamino introduced a fixed-rate lending product, with FalconX named as the first pilot borrower to establish a sector reference point. Another new module will create an intent-based lending market, where borrowers post desired terms and are algorithmically matched with lenders, offering more predictability than variable rates driven by pool utilization.
The protocol is also expanding into loans backed by off-chain collateral held in qualified custody. It will leverage Chainlink's data oracles and partner with Anchorage Digital to issue on-chain credit backed by these external guarantees. This broadens the range of accepted assets and reduces reliance on volatile crypto collateral. Additionally, Kamino will launch a BTC-backed USDC vault to attract institutional capital seeking private credit products.
The final new product is a Build Kit, providing developers with SDK and API access to integrate Kamino's yield mechanisms into other applications. This expansion is seen as a strategic move to counter the rising competition from Jupiter Lend, which has been gaining momentum in the Solana lending space. Kamino expects its new product line to offset the decline in retail activity and solidify its market leadership.
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