Lightspeed How Kamino Became Solana's Largest Lending Protocol | Marius Ciubotariu
Dec 23, 2025
Marius Ciubotariu, founder of Kamino and DeFi builder, shares insights on transforming Kamino into Solana's largest lending protocol. He discusses the importance of on-chain finance and how it facilitates capital efficiency through a unique flywheel effect. Marius dives into recent product launches, including fixed-rate borrowing and off-chain collateral integration, which aim to attract institutional investors. He also contrasts Solana’s rapid growth with Ethereum, predicting that hybrid liquidity models will shape the future of DeFi.
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On-Chain Finance Creates Market Gravity
- Moving finance on-chain centralizes counterparties, improving capital efficiency and asset selection.
- Marius says a big on-chain marketplace creates gravity that attracts liquidity providers and takers over time.
Tokenization Expands Collateral Universe
- Everything will eventually get tokenized, from stocks to private funds, creating vast new on-chain collateral pools.
- Marius expects tokenized yield funds and long-term holds to become primary collateral types for borrowing.
Fixed Rates And Borrow Intents Unlock Predictability
- Fixed-rate borrowing with duration enables predictable cost of capital for issuers and leveraged yield strategies.
- Borrow intents let borrowers place orders and enable on-chain interest-rate price discovery and a primitive yield curve.