Kamino V2: a new standard for on-chain credit on Solana and beyond

Context and positioning

In just two years, Kamino has become the most used lending application on Solana. With over 4 billion dollars in cumulative TVL across its products and zero bad debt recorded since its inception, the protocol has established itself as a benchmark in security and performance within Solana's DeFi ecosystem.

Kamino Lend V1 was based on a traditional model of overcollateralized lending markets. But with the explosion of supported assets, the rise of LSTs, and the emergence of more complex use cases (RWAs, institutional funds, structured yield products), this monolithic architecture reached its limits.

It is in this context that Kamino announced its V2 in 2024, with a clear ambition: to provide a modular, scalable, and interoperable lending layer for Solana’s next growth phase. The core protocol remains unchanged as the V1 codebase still serves as the foundation, but the architecture has been entirely redesigned around two main components:

• an open and configurable Market Layer, allowing the creation of any type of credit market
• a Vault Layer dedicated to liquidity aggregation, automated risk management, and optimized returns based on predefined profiles

Kamino thus aims to meet a dual challenge: enabling the rapid creation of new markets (with custom parameters) while offering a simple and unified UX for users.

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Kamino V2 architecture

Kamino V2 is built on a modular architecture designed to expand the use cases of on-chain lending. This new version is structured around two complementary layers: the Market Layer and the Vault Layer. It also includes major improvements in execution, risk management, and user experience.

Market Layer

Kamino V2's Market Layer enables the permissionless creation of lending markets with fully customizable parameters. Each market can be configured with different assets, specific risk rules, dedicated oracles, individualized borrowing limits, and adjustable interest rate curves.

This modular model offers great flexibility to tailor credit infrastructure to the nature of the underlying assets: stablecoins, LSTs, RWAs, memecoins, or even illiquid assets. It becomes possible to create custom lending environments with specific rules for each collateral and borrowable asset combination.

Key features of the Market Layer include:

• isolated markets with tailored parameters
• support for collateral rehypothecation
• native automations (looping, deleverage, collateral swap)
• integration of limit orders, take profit, and stop loss
• support for permissioned and KYC-enabled markets if needed

This modularity also meets the needs of institutional players and facilitates the onboarding of new asset classes such as RWAs.

Vault Layer

The growing diversity of markets makes manual yield optimization increasingly difficult for users. Kamino V2's Vault Layer introduces automated lending vaults, designed as “earn account” type products adjusted according to different investor risk profiles.

Each vault aggregates liquidity across multiple V2 markets based on a mandate defined by a curator (external partner or Risk Council member). Allocations are rebalanced dynamically to maximize returns while adhering to preset risk parameters.

Several profiles are available at launch:

• Conservative: exposure only to liquid and low-volatility assets
• Balanced: diversified exposure to moderate-risk markets
• Aggressive: partial exposure to high-yield markets

Kamino has already onboarded several partners to manage these vaults, including Steakhouse, Re7 Labs, Allez Labs, and MEV Capital. More specialized profiles (RWA, LST-only, thematic) are in development.

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Flagship products of Kamino V2

Kamino V2’s modular architecture enables the deployment of a broader range of credit products on Solana, combining automation, leverage, and customization. Some of these products already existed in V1 but now benefit from significant upgrades, while others are entirely new.

Multiply and Spot Leverage

One of Kamino’s flagship products is Multiply, an automated leverage loop strategy (e.g. mSOL/SOL, wBTC/SOL) integrated directly into the interface. With over 1 billion dollars deployed through this product, Multiply has become a cornerstone of the protocol.

Kamino V2 expands on this concept with a new product: Spot Leverage. It is a simple and efficient leverage tool for users seeking long-term exposure with a 2x to 4x multiple, without relying on perpetual futures.

Advantages include:

• significantly lower fees than derivatives platforms
• target leverage automation
• native stop loss and take profit
• yield on collateral
• soft liquidations and protection against scam wicks

This positioning aims to attract a broader user base, especially SOL, BTC, or memecoin holders looking for more aggressive exposure over longer timeframes with enhanced safety.

As part of the Kamino V2 launch, ten new markets were introduced to power Multiply and leverage products, alongside over 285,000 dollars in monthly incentives:

1. Marinade (mSOL/SOL, 10x) – 165,000 USD in MNDE
2. SolBlaze (bSOL/SOL, 7.5x) – 44,000 USD in BLZE
3. Sanctum (INF/SOL, 4x) – 34,000 USD in INF
4. Exponent + Jito (PT/SOL) – 20,000 USD in JTO (coming soon)
5. Bonk (BONK leverage) – 22,000 USD in BONK
6. P2PValidator + Jito + Bybit – 2,400 USD in JTO (coming soon)

These markets are directly compatible with Multiply and allow users to create leveraged loops directly from the interface, while also receiving associated rewards. Any position opened through these markets via Multiply or Earn Vaults is automatically eligible for incentives.

Orderbook Lending

Another strategic addition is the upcoming Orderbook Lending system, where users will be able to place lending or borrowing offers at defined interest rates, similar to an order book.

This approach allows for more precise user intent expression and could provide greater granularity in interest rate formation on Solana. This system is still under development but aligns with the protocol’s modular logic.

RWAs and institutional markets

Kamino also aims to become the native credit layer for real-world assets (RWAs) on Solana. Thanks to the flexibility of V2 markets, the protocol can integrate assets like syrupUSDC (from Maple Finance), with tailored risk rules and adapted leverage products.

The ecosystem has already seen the launch of RWA markets in collaboration with:

• Maple Finance (syrupUSDC market, already over 45M USD)
• Steakhouse Financial (curator partner and Risk Council contributor)
• Securitize (for onboarding of regulated products such as ACRED)

This momentum opens the door to Kamino’s institutional expansion, with the deployment of KYC-enabled markets, fixed yield products, and custom vaults designed for asset managers.

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Key figures and adoption dynamics

The launch of Kamino V2 was met with immediate adoption, confirming the relevance of its modular architecture and the strength of its infrastructure. Less than three weeks after going live on mainnet, V2 markets have already surpassed 200 million dollars in deposits, with over 80 million dollars in active borrowings.

In total, the protocol reports:

• 216 million dollars in liquidity deposited on V2 markets
• 85 million dollars borrowed
• over 2,350 active positions

Ten new markets were launched as part of V2, each structured as an isolated market with its own risk, liquidity, and incentive parameters. These markets operate on the same codebase as V1, ensuring full compatibility with the existing ecosystem and a high level of security: 14 external audits and formal verification via Certora.

Two examples particularly illustrate the effectiveness of Kamino’s model:

Marinade Market (mSOL/SOL)

• 90 million dollars in market size
• 40 million dollars in active debt
• integrated directly with Multiply, enabling automated mSOL/SOL loops
• growth correlated with new mSOL issuance, creating a positive feedback loop for Marinade

Maple Market (syrupUSDC)

• 45 million dollars in market size five days after launch
• 25.5 million syrupUSDC looped against USDC or USDG
• market enabled by the fast integration of Maple’s syrupUSDC (a fixed-yield stablecoin) via Kamino Liquidity
• 90% of the syrupUSDC supply on Solana already used in Kamino Lend and Multiply

These examples highlight how the Multiply - Market Layer - Earn Vaults triptych acts as a strong growth engine for both Kamino and the broader Solana ecosystem.

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Outlook for Kamino

With Kamino V2, the protocol evolves from a high-performing lending platform into a true infrastructure layer for on-chain credit. It is designed to support the growing diversity of assets on Solana and to enable the development of new financial products at the intersection of DeFi and TradFi.

Kamino now positions itself as an abstraction layer for all credit-related use cases on-chain: isolated markets, automated vaults, leveraged products, yield-bearing stablecoins, RWAs, and more. This repositioning makes Kamino a core component of Solana's on-chain economy.

Beyond lending, Kamino also becomes a strategic tool for liquidity bootstrapping on Solana. The Marinade market showcases how linking an isolated market to Multiply loops encourages mSOL issuance while offering users automated leveraged strategies. This model aligns the interests of partner protocols, users, and the Kamino infrastructure itself.

The Maple Finance example goes even further, allowing a protocol external to Solana to integrate seamlessly into the ecosystem. In just a few days, more than 90% of syrupUSDC’s supply has already been integrated into Kamino’s ecosystem (Multiply, Earn, Market). This ability to quickly onboard new assets also illustrates Kamino’s potential to become a hub for RWA integration on Solana.

At a time when the Solana ecosystem is transitioning away from the peak of the memecoin cycle, finding new, robust narratives is critical. The convergence between DeFi and TradFi, led by RWAs, could well be the next major trend, with Kamino already positioning itself as a key catalyst.

Finally, Kamino currently enjoys a clear technical and strategic edge over its competitors. While other lending platforms remain constrained by monolithic architectures, Kamino offers a flexible, interoperable, and extensible infrastructure—with no friction or learning curve for end users.