What is Kamino Finance?

Kamino Finance is a DeFi protocol on Solana where people can lend crypto to earn interest, borrow against their deposits and use automated strategies. It began in August 2022 with vaults that manage liquidity on Solana exchanges, and its lending market is now the center of the platform.

How does Kamino Lend work?

Kamino's Borrow product, often called Kamino Lend, is a peer-to-pool market. Lenders deposit assets into a shared reserve and earn interest paid by borrowers. Borrowers post collateral and take out loans worth less than that collateral. The general model is explained in crypto lending and borrowing.

The key number is loan-to-value, or LTV. Kamino's docs say that once a position's LTV passes its liquidation LTV, it can be liquidated at any time with no grace period. Each liquidation closes at most 20% of the debt, unless the position is close to insolvency, typically above 95% LTV, when it can be closed in full. Liquidators, usually bots, receive a bonus paid from the borrower's collateral. A related measure is covered in what is a health factor in DeFi.

What are Kamino vaults?

Kamino has two kinds. Lending vaults, also called Earn vaults, take a single token such as USDC and spread it across lending reserves. A curator sets the target weights and can change them at any time, so depositors carry the curator's decisions. Depositors receive vault shares that rise in value as interest accrues. Vaults keep a buffer, typically 5% to 10% of assets, for instant withdrawals, and larger withdrawals can be delayed when borrowing demand is high.

Liquidity vaults were Kamino's first product. They provide concentrated liquidity to Solana exchange pools and issue kTokens, which the docs call yield-bearing LP tokens and which can be used as collateral on Kamino Lend. When the price moves out of range, Kamino's bots close and reopen the position around the current price.

What is Kamino Multiply?

Multiply opens a leveraged position in one transaction. It uses a flash loan, swaps into the target asset, deposits it as collateral, borrows against it and repays the flash loan, all at once. A common example is looping a liquid staking token against SOL. The docs warn that leverage magnifies gains and losses, that higher leverage moves a position closer to liquidation, and that a positive yield spread is not guaranteed.

What is the KMNO token and is Kamino audited?

KMNO is Kamino's native token, with a total supply of 10 billion, launched on April 30, 2024. The docs allocate 35% to community and grants, 35% to stakeholders and advisors, 20% to core contributors and 10% to liquidity and treasury. Kamino's security page lists 15 audits from firms including OtterSec, Sec3 and Offside Labs. The wider risks of protocols like this are covered in is DeFi safe.