Written by Xiao Bing
On September 15, Kamino Finance announced two things: the appointment of Michael Weisz, co-founder of Yieldstreet, as CEO, and the establishment of its headquarters in New York (approximately 20,000 square feet of office space, with plans to hire a CFO and head of legal).
Weisz is not from the crypto space; he allocated over $6 billion in alternative investments at Yieldstreet (now renamed Willow Wealth), partnering with firms including Goldman Sachs, Carlyle, KKR, and Ares. He said: “Being based in New York puts Kamino at the intersection of asset managers, distribution platforms, and institutional capital.”
The signal is clear: Kamino is transitioning from a Solana-based DeFi lending protocol to an institutional-oriented "on-chain credit market" platform.
What does this transition mean for KMNO holders?
What does Kamino currently earn?
According to DeFiLlama, Kamino has four revenue streams:
Interest Spread: This is the largest source of revenue. Users earn interest by depositing assets, while borrowers pay interest; Kamino captures the spread—the difference between the borrowing rate and the deposit rate. In Q2 2026, total interest income from lending amounted to approximately $10.29 million, of which approximately $8.85 million was paid to depositors, leaving Kamino with approximately $1.44 million.
Liquidity Vault Fees: Management fees generated from automated liquidity management strategies. Approximately $390,000 in Q2 2026, of which approximately $130,000 goes to Kamino.
Liquidation Fee: When a borrower’s collateral falls below the liquidation line, liquidators execute forced liquidations, and Kamino collects a portion of the fee. Approximately $11,200 in Q2 2026 (this quarter saw relatively stable markets and low liquidation volumes).
Origination Fee: A one-time fee charged when the loan is initiated. Zero in Q2 2026.
Overall, Kamino's total protocol revenue for Q2 2026 was approximately $10.69 million, and after deducting costs paid to depositors and LPs, the net protocol revenue (which can be understood as "gross profit") was approximately $1.58 million.
Revenue trends are worth noting: a decline from a peak of $36.67 million in Q4 2024 to $10.69 million in Q2 2026, representing a drop of over 70%. This closely mirrors the overall decline in activity within the Solana ecosystem, as Kamino’s revenue is fundamentally a function of borrowing demand within the SOL ecosystem.
PRIME Market: The First Real Business in RWA
Kamino’s RWA transition currently has only one live product: the PRIME market.
PRIME, in partnership with Figure Technologies and Hastra, enables depositors to earn RWA-backed yields by using Figure’s blockchain-enabled home equity loans as collateral. In 107 days since launch, deposits have exceeded $600 million.
This figure is remarkable: PRIME accounts for over 40% of $1.4 billion in total assets, achieved from zero in just three and a half months.
Additionally, Forward Industries (FWDI, a Solana-listed entity) and Galaxy Digital (GLXY) are also using Kamino’s infrastructure to manage tokenized equity and U.S. Treasury positions.
This means Kamino’s asset side is expanding from purely crypto assets (SOL, USDC, mSOL, etc.) to tokenized traditional assets.
Will the income flow to the token?
KMNO currently features governance voting and staking for points boosts; there is no publicly disclosed fee distribution, buyback, or burn mechanism to channel protocol revenue to token holders.
This is the same state as ARB: revenue has been generated, but value capture has not kept up.
Whether Weisz’s involvement will drive tokenomics reform is a key variable in determining whether KMNO can upgrade from "SOL Beta" to an independently priced asset.
KMNO is currently priced at approximately $0.025, with a circulating supply of about 5.5 billion tokens, resulting in a circulating market cap of approximately $130 million to $140 million. The fully diluted valuation (FDV) is approximately $170 million to $250 million (total supply of 10 billion tokens).
Based on a net protocol revenue of approximately $1.58 million in Q2 2026 (annualized to approximately $6.32 million), the FDV/net revenue multiple is approximately 27 to 40x.
This valuation multiple is moderate for DeFi lending protocols. However, if PRIME’s RWA business significantly increases net income, there is potential for a valuation reevaluation. Conversely, if the RWA business only grows TVL without boosting net income, the current valuation lacks upward catalysts.
In comparison, Aave’s FDV/annualized revenue multiple is approximately 15 to 20x, but Aave has already established fee capture mechanisms for GHO and staking rewards for the Safety Module through governance. For Kamino to achieve similar valuation recognition, it must first resolve the question of “who captures the fees.”
In summary, for KMNO to upgrade from "SOL Beta" to an independently priced RWA asset, at least two conditions must be met:
RWA revenue in the PRIME market significantly exceeds the interest spread contribution from traditional crypto lending (demonstrating the value of the transition), along with the establishment of a fee capture or buyback mechanism at the governance level (demonstrating that revenue flows to token holders).