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Modulis 3 · DeFi lending
3/6

Kamino.com — Borrowing on the Solana Network

Video · 3 min.
Kamino: borrowing on Solana

Carl can borrow up to 74% on Kamino, but liquidation starts at 75%. How the pawn shop works on Solana, how to open a position, what Supply APY, Borrow APR and Health Factor mean, why Kamino is about 40 markets, not one, and why an audited protocol is not the same as a safe one.

Narrated, with light music
The full lesson with numbers and rules is below.
Watch on YouTube
SOL Kamino

Kamino is a place where you can deposit your SOL as collateral and borrow money. It's like a bank, except it runs on the internet, with no employees, and everything happens in seconds.

Kamino is our primary platform for SOL collateral positions.

By the end of this lesson, you'll open a SOL collateral position yourself, understand the weighted margin formula, and know your liquidation price ahead of time — so you manage the risk instead of fearing it.

Why Kamino?

SOL Kamino runs on the Solana network. That means:

FeatureKamino (Solana)A regular bank
Speed~0.4 secondsDays or weeks
Cost~$0.01Bank fees
Uptime24/7 — alwaysBusiness days only
User trust~$1.3B locked (2026-09)—
What is TVL — and what does it NOT tell you?

TVL (Total Value Locked) — how much money people have entrusted to this platform. As of 2026-09, Kamino Lend's TVL is ≈ $1.3 billion. For comparison, Aave (Ethereum) holds ≈ $17.4 billion, roughly 13 times more.

But TVL is not a safety guarantee, and the number swings hard: total DeFi TVL shrank from its October 2025 peak (~$155B) to ~$87B. A big TVL means liquidity and scale — not that the money cannot disappear. Check the live figure at defillama.com.

How Kamino works

Kamino lets you do three things:

  1. Deposit assets (SOL) and earn interest
  2. Borrow against your collateral (mainly USDC)
  3. Do both at once — your collateral keeps earning while you borrow

Kamino markets

Kamino has several separate "markets" with different rules (parameters verified in 2026-09):

MarketWhat you can post as collateralWhat you can borrowMax LTVLiquidation threshold
Main market (API: "SOL/BTC Market")SOL, mSOL, JitoSOLUSDC, USDT74%75%
JLP MarketJLP (Jupiter LP)USDC50%60%
Altcoin MarketWIF, BONK, JTOUSDC45%55%

We use the main market — it has the deepest liquidity, and it is where SOL works as collateral.

There is no single 'Kamino threshold' — it depends on your collateral

A common mistake is to memorise one number and apply it everywhere. The threshold depends on what you post as collateral:

  • SOL collateral: you can borrow up to 74%, liquidation starts at 75%
  • USDC collateral: up to 80%, liquidation at 90%

In our strategy the collateral is SOL, so the number that matters is 75%.

And one more important detail: 74% and 75% are a single percentage point apart. Borrowing "up to the maximum" leaves you with no buffer at all. That is why we work at 30%, not at the ceiling.

Kamino now has ~40 markets, not one

There used to be a single "Main Market". Kamino Lend V2 allows markets to be created permissionlessly, so as of 2026-09 there are around 40 of them, each overseen by a different curator (Allez Labs, Gauntlet, Steakhouse, Sentora).

Every market has its own LTVs, liquidation thresholds and penalties. So the rule is simple: before opening a position, write down the parameters of the exact market you are opening it in. Don't rely on this table alone — it is a 2026-09 snapshot.

How to get started — step by step

  1. Connect to Kamino with your wallet

    Go to kamino.com/lending. Connect with Jupiter Wallet. Make sure you have SOL in your wallet.

    The real domain is kamino.com. The old kamino.finance redirects to it — if there is no redirect, you are not on the real site.

  2. Choose 'Lend' and the main market

    On the Kamino page, choose 'Lending' and the main market. You'll see the assets with their interest rates.

    Write down that market's SOL max LTV and liquidation threshold — there are ~40 markets and the numbers differ.

  3. Deposit SOL as collateral

    Click 'Supply' next to SOL. Enter the amount (e.g. 126 SOL). Confirm in your wallet.

    Keep at least 0.05 SOL in your wallet for fees.

  4. Turn on 'Collateral' mode

    After depositing, turn on the collateral toggle. Without this step you won't be able to borrow.

  5. Borrow USDC

    Click 'Borrow' next to USDC. Enter the amount. Watch your LTV — don't start above 30%.

    USDC interest on Kamino is ~5-6% per year (2026-09; the rate is variable) — this is the real cost of the debt, and LP fees have to cover it.

  6. Monitor your position

    Kamino shows your collateral value, debt, LTV, and liquidation price. Check these numbers every day.

Our strategy parameters

Compare both strategies by LTV — you'll see why Strategy A suits beginners while Strategy B needs more experience:

STRATEGY A (30% LTV)
30%Saugu
For beginners — a large buffer before liquidation
45%
55%
65%
75%
100%
STRATEGY B (42% LTV)
42%Saugu
For experienced users — a bigger loan, a smaller buffer
45%
55%
65%
75%
100%

Strategy A

Kamino AUDITAS
ParameterValueExplanation
CollateralSOLThe main Solana currency
Collateral yield~4.7% per year (2026-09)Variable; 90-day average ~6.3%
DebtUSDCA stable currency
Cost of debt~5–6% per year (2026-09)Variable
Starting LTV30%Safe level
Max LTV74%Protocol maximum for SOL collateral
Liquidation threshold75%SOL collateral liqLTV

Rates are 2026-09-05 figures. They move every day with market demand, so this is a snapshot, not a promise. Always check the live number before you open a position.

Strategy B

Kamino AUDITAS
ParameterValueExplanation
Collateral126 SOL ($11,088)A larger position
Debt4,704 USDCRegulated stablecoin (Circle)
Cost of debt~5-6% per year (2026-09)Variable Kamino rate
Starting LTV42%More aggressive
Liquidation price~$58−34% from the $88 example price
These numbers are an example, not a market price

The example uses SOL = $88. At the time of writing (2026-09) the market is around $102 — the figures are illustrative, and the mechanism does not depend on the price.

But one thing here is worth taking seriously: in June 2026 SOL fell to around $60 — below this position's liquidation price. That is not theory. It is exactly why 42% LTV is called aggressive, and why we suggest 30% for beginners.

Why Borrow USDC?

USDC — the strategy's borrowing currency

In the Kamino strategy we borrow USDC — the largest regulated stablecoin on Solana.

Why USDC?

The cost: USDC earns nothing by itself, so the cost of debt = Kamino's USDC borrow rate (~5-6% per year, 2026-09; variable). LP fees have to cover this cost — we include it in the strategy's breakeven (lesson 6-3).

USDC debt
Cost of debt~5-6% (2026-09; variable)
Asset yield0% (a stablecoin earns nothing by itself)
Real cost per year (on $4,704)~$235-282
Liquidity on SolanaThe highest
Smart contract riskLow (Circle)

Weighted margin — how we calculate it

In this course we use a stricter formula than simple LTV:

Effective collateral = SOL amount × SOL price × 0.90
Effective debt = Debt × 1.05
Weighted LTV = Effective debt / Effective collateral
ParameterSimple valueWeighted value
126 SOL × $88$11,088$11,088 × 0.90 = $9,979
4,704 USDC$4,704$4,704 × 1.05 = $4,939
LTV42.4%49.5% (weighted)

The difference: 7.1 percentage points. When you calculate with weighted LTV, you know your real buffer in advance — so you're never caught by surprise.

Important: this is NOT Kamino's formula

The 0.90 and 1.05 factors are our course's safety margin, not Kamino's calculation. The protocol itself doesn't use them — it simply compares the debt against the collateral value and checks whether the 75% threshold has been crossed.

So Kamino's screen will show a lower LTV than the one you calculated yourself. That is normal and deliberate: our formula errs on the safe side, warning you earlier. Plan with your own number and use the protocol's number as confirmation.

Kamino risks — and how you manage each one

AUDITAS Kamino has been audited by independent experts (OtterSec, Kudelski).

Every risk here comes with a concrete lever — so this isn't a list of dangers, it's a management map:

RiskLevelHow to manage it
Program bugLowAudited, running since 2023
Price feed errorLowUses Pyth and Switchboard
LiquidationManageableKeep LTV ≤ 30%
Market curator riskMediumV2 markets are run by third parties — stay in the main market and write down its parameters
Solana outageRareHave a backup plan (Aave)
USDC depegVery lowCircle is regulated, monthly audits
'Audited' still doesn't mean 'safe'

In April 2026 the Solana protocol Drift lost about $285M — and the code was not broken. The attackers spent roughly half a year working on people and eventually took over the admin keys.

An audit checks the code, but not the people around it. So an audit is a point in favour, not a guarantee — size your position as if the protocol could fail.

How to prepare for a Solana outage

The Solana network sometimes experiences outages. Professionals handle this simply: they keep a backup position on Aave, on a different network. That way, if Solana pauses for a moment, you can still act through Aave — you have a second leg to stand on.

What to check every day

MetricWhere to find itWhy it matters
LTVDashboard → PositionThe main safety number
Liquidation priceDashboard → PositionKnow your danger threshold
Collateral interestDashboard → SOLWhether it's changed
Cost of debtDashboard → USDCWhether it's gotten more expensive
Health FactorDashboard → Position> 1.5 = safe, < 1.2 = danger

Health Factor (a safety metric) is the inverse of the LTV ratio: the higher it is, the safer you are. If it equals 1 — liquidation.

In short

Quick check
Which network does Kamino run on?
Practice task
0 / 6
Explore Kamino and try the sandbox

Time to see a real lending platform live — safely, without depositing anything. This task takes about ~15 minutes.

In this task you deposit and borrow NOTHING — you're only looking at numbers. Check that the domain is really kamino.com (the old kamino.finance redirects to it — if there is no redirect, you are not on the real site), and don't confirm any transactions in your wallet.

This is learning, not investing — use only small amounts you treat as tuition.

You just read real Kamino market rates and walked through the supply process in the simulator — now you can read a lending platform yourself, with no outside help.

Liquidation MechanicsAave.com (ETH)
Mark as read

Support

Free material is easy to put off

Something practice teaches: when you paid nothing to learn, it is easy to postpone learning indefinitely. If these lessons actually gave you something — saved you a mistake, or explained what nobody else did — you can pay whatever you think they were worth.

This is not a price, a subscription, or a fee for access. The amount is yours to choose, and paying nothing is entirely fine.

Solana address

CUj6wYQLSBxidzm7Lqtkxbw2d8Sv2H2tbJELyAjR756M

Solana network only

Send SOL or SPL tokens (e.g. USDC) only on the Solana network. Sending from an exchange over a different network loses the funds permanently — nobody can recover them.

What you get for it

Nothing extra, and that is deliberate. Every lesson, all three difficulty levels and every calculator stay free and sign-up-free, with or without a donation. There is no gated section, no share of profits, no future token and no claim on anything.

Where the money goes

A donation becomes my own money. I use it to keep the site running and to fund a public demonstration position on a lending protocol — real money, so the lessons have something to show instead of only theory. I publish the results, losses included, publicly and free for everyone. It is my position and my risk, not a pooled fund.

This is a gift for content already received, not an investment and not a payment for a service. Non-refundable. Educational content, not an investment recommendation.