Written by: Xiao Bing

On September 15, Kamino Finance announced two things: the appointment of Yieldstreet co-founder Michael Weisz as CEO, and the establishment of headquarters in New York (approximately 20,000 square feet of office space, with plans to hire a CFO and a legal head).

Weisz is not from the crypto space; he was involved in allocating over $6 billion in alternative investments at Yieldstreet (now rebranded as Willow Wealth), partnering with firms including Goldman Sachs, Carlyle, KKR, and Ares. His exact words were: "Being in New York positions Kamino at the intersection of asset managers, distribution platforms, and institutional capital."

The signal from this move is clear: Kamino is transforming from a DeFi lending protocol on the Solana chain to a platform for "on-chain credit markets" aimed at institutions.

What does this transformation mean for KMNO holders?

What is Kamino currently earning?

According to data from DeFiLlama, Kamino's revenue sources include four lines:

Lending Spread: This is the largest source of revenue. Users deposit assets to earn interest, borrowers pay interest, and Kamino takes the spread (the difference between borrowing rates and deposit rates). Total lending interest income for Q2 2026 is approximately $10.29 million, of which about $8.85 million is paid to depositors, leaving Kamino with about $1.44 million.

Liquidity Vault Fees: Management fees generated from automated liquidity management strategies. For Q2 2026, this amounts to about $390,000, of which approximately $130,000 goes to Kamino.

Liquidation Penalties: When a borrower's collateral falls below the liquidation threshold, liquidators execute forced liquidations, and Kamino charges a portion of the penalties. For Q2 2026, this is about $11,200 (the market was relatively stable this quarter, with low liquidation volumes).

Origination Fees: One-time fees charged at the time of loan origination. Zero for Q2 2026.

In total, Kamino's total protocol revenue for Q2 2026 is approximately $10.69 million. After deducting costs paid to depositors and LPs, the net protocol income (which can be understood as "gross profit") is about $1.58 million.

The revenue trend is worth noting: it has declined from $36.67 million in Q4 2024 (peak) to $10.69 million in Q2 2026, a decrease of over 70%. This decline is highly synchronized with the overall drop in the activity of the Solana ecosystem; Kamino's revenue ultimately reflects the borrowing demand in the SOL ecosystem.

The PRIME Market: The First Real Business of RWA

Currently, Kamino's RWA transformation has only one operational product: the PRIME market.

PRIME collaborates with Figure Technologies and Hastra, using Figure's blockchain-based home equity loans as collateral, allowing depositors to earn RWA-backed returns. In just 107 days since launch, deposits exceeded $600 million.

This number is quite astonishing; over 40% of the total assets of $1.4 billion comes from PRIME, achieved within three and a half months from zero.

Additionally, Forward Industries (FWDI, a Solana-listed entity) and Galaxy Digital (GLXY) are also utilizing Kamino's infrastructure for the management of tokenized equity and US Treasury positions.

This means Kamino's asset side is expanding from purely crypto assets (such as SOL, USDC, mSOL, etc.) to tokenized traditional assets.

Will revenue flow to the tokens?

Currently, KMNO's functions include governance voting and staking for points boosts, and there are no publicly disclosed mechanisms for fee distribution, buybacks, or token burns that would pass protocol revenue on to token holders.

This is exactly the same situation as ARB: "revenue exists, but value capture has not caught up."

Whether Weisz's joining will push for reforms in token economics is a key variable for whether KMNO can upgrade from "SOL Beta" to an independently priced asset.

KMNO is currently priced at about $0.025, with a circulating supply of about 5.5 billion tokens, a market cap of approximately $130 million to $140 million, and an FDV of about $170 million to $250 million (total supply of 10 billion tokens).

Based on the approximate net protocol income of $1.58 million for Q2 2026 (annualized to about $6.32 million), the FDV/net income multiple is around 27 to 40 times.

This valuation multiple is moderate among DeFi lending protocols. However, if the RWA business of the PRIME market can significantly enhance net income, there is room for a re-evaluation. Conversely, if the RWA business expands only TVL without thickening net income, the current valuation lacks upward catalysts.

In comparison, Aave has an FDV/annual income multiple of about 15 to 20 times, but Aave has already established a fee capture mechanism for GHO and staking returns through governance. For Kamino to earn similar valuation recognition, it first needs to address the question of "who captures the fees."

In summary, for KMNO to upgrade from "SOL Beta" to a standalone RWA asset with independent pricing, it must at least meet two conditions:

Significantly exceed the margin contribution of traditional crypto lending in PRIME market's RWA revenue (proving the transformation is valuable), and establish some fee capture or buyback mechanism at the governance level (proving revenue is flowing to token holders).