Modulis 8 · Tokenized assets (RWA)

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RWA yield in DeFi — Kamino and liquidity pools

SOL

We’re learning, not investing

This lesson is education, not investment advice. Everything here is exploration, with no real money involved.

A traditional stock at a broker just sits there: its value can grow, but it doesn’t do anything else. A tokenized stock is composable — it works 24/7 and plugs into DeFi protocols exactly like any other token. This is tokenization’s biggest “wow” moment: the same asset can earn on two layers at once. But that also brings a new kind of risk.

Why can’t a broker do this?

In a broker’s system, a stock is “locked” inside their own platform — it doesn’t connect to anything and only works during exchange hours. A tokenized stock is an on-chain token, so it can be posted as collateral, paired in pools, and used in DeFi 24/7.

Way 1 — collateral on Kamino SOL Kamino

Kamino is the largest Solana lending protocol and one of the first major DeFi lending protocols to accept tokenized stocks (xStocks-type) as collateral.

Once you’ve put a tokenized stock into Kamino, two paths are open:

Option	What you get	Related to
Supply	A small supply yield for leaving the asset in the protocol	Module 3 — collateral
Borrow	Borrow USDC against the stock; how much depends on the ticker (Kamino xStocks market, Sept 2026: SPYx 73%, TSLAx 55%, AAPLx 40%, MSTRx 30%), and the debt costs about 5% a year	Module 3 — LTV, liquidation

Example, not a fact

Say the supply APY might be roughly 2% — but that’s just an illustration. Real numbers change daily, so in the practice task you’ll look up the current ones yourself.

The other side: what the debt costs

As of 2026-09-05, USDC debt in Kamino’s xStocks market cost about 5.0% a year (the supply side paid about 3.9%). So treat every layer as a subtraction: if you borrow at 5.0% and put that money into a tokenized treasury yielding about 3.5%, your carry is minus about 1.5% a year.

Layering only pays off when the new layer’s yield genuinely exceeds the cost of the debt. Both numbers change daily — check the current ones on both sides.

This builds directly on what you learned in Module 3: LTV (how much you’ve borrowed against your collateral), liquidation price, and Health Factor all work exactly the same way as they do with SOL collateral.

Way 2 — liquidity pools (LP)

You can pair a tokenized stock with USDC and add it to a liquidity pool — Raydium SOL or Orca SOL. For supplying liquidity, you earn a share of the trading fees paid by people trading through the pool.

Property	LP with a tokenized stock
Pair	Stock token + USDC
Where	Raydium SOL / Orca SOL
Yield	A share of trading fees
Main risk	Impermanent loss (IL)

This ties back to Module 4: the same impermanent loss principle you learned with SOL/USDC applies to a stock/USDC pair too. The further the stock’s price drifts from your entry point, the more IL “eats into” your fee earnings.

Way 3 — layering

The interesting part is that you can combine the layers. At the same time you have:

price exposure to the stock — if it goes up, you profit from the price;
DeFi yield — supply interest or LP fees on the same asset.

A traditional broker physically cannot offer this — in their system a stock is just held. It’s tokenization’s core advantage, but every extra layer adds its own layer of risk.

Once you understand these three layers, you can look at any RWA position and say exactly which layer is generating the yield and what risk you’re being paid to take.

Key risks

Yield comes in exchange for risk — and that’s useful to know: when you see a big number, you immediately ask “what risk am I being paid for here?”. Here are three risks and a lever for each one:

Weekend liquidation → when borrowing against a stock token, keep your LTV low and hold a buffer: DeFi runs 24/7, but the real exchange is closed on weekends, so you plan ahead.
Peg drift → outside exchange hours or in thin pools, the token’s price can drift from the real stock, so pick deeper pools and check the price before you act.
Smart contract + issuer → use only audited protocols, and know who issued the token and whether they hold the backing.

Every risk has a fix. You don’t fear it — you learn to spot it and manage it.

Important: a tokenized stock isn’t a real stock

A tokenized stock tracks the stock’s price, but it doesn’t come with shareholder rights — no voting, no direct claim on dividends — and it isn’t covered by broker investor-protection schemes (e.g., US SIPC up to $500,000). If the issuer goes bankrupt, you’re an unsecured creditor. On top of that, it’s a regulated security (more heavily regulated than plain crypto): availability and rules differ by country and change fast. Check the current status yourself — this is not investment or tax advice.

Quick summary

Way	Yield comes from	Main risk	Module
Collateral on Kamino (supply)	Supply interest	Smart contract	3
Borrow against the stock	Cash in hand without selling	Liquidation (weekends!)	3
LP pool	Trading fees	Impermanent loss + peg	4

Quick check

How does a tokenized stock differ from a stock in a broker account, in DeFi terms?

Practice task

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Explore Kamino’s RWA market (without putting anything in)

Let’s look at whether Kamino accepts tokenized stocks and on what terms — safely, without putting anything in and without even connecting a wallet. Takes about 10 minutes.

In this task you put nothing in and don’t connect your wallet — you’re just looking at the numbers. Remember: a real position carries liquidation risk, and reacting is very hard on a weekend, when the real exchange is closed.

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

You just read the terms of a live RWA market and know what to ask about each yield layer — most people never do that.

Tokenized bonds and treasuries RWA risks, regulation, and strategy