Kamino’s Season 3 Snapshot occurred at midnight UTC on May 12th, marking the end of Season 3 of Kamino points. The Season 3 allocation checker is now live here.
In this post, we highlight the outcomes of Season 3, details on the upcoming distribution, and an introduction to Season 4.
Introduction
9 months have elapsed since Kamino Season 3 kicked off in August 2024. Over this period, Kamino has seen substantial growth, reinforcing its position as the largest DeFi protocol on Solana (excl. staking). At the time of writing, Kamino has:
- Total Market Size: $3.86B
- Active Borrows: $1.56B
- Active Loans: 150,400
Season 3 successfully achieved two core objectives:
- TVL Growth: 101% growth in USD terms
- Sustained Staking: 44% of circulating KMNO remains staked
Ultimately, KMNO stakers could accrue over 200% staking boost by the end of the Season. Users who maximized their KMNO staking thus received a substantial boost to their points totals—covered later in this post.
As with Season 2, the total distribution of Season 3 will be 350,000,000 KMNO (3.5% of supply), allocated linearly based on each user’s share of the total points earned.
Let’s dive in.
Why Linear? Why 350,000,000 KMNO?
Since the first Season of Kamino Points, distributions have been linear. This most effectively rewards the two key user patterns on the protocol: sustained product usage, and continuous KMNO staking.
The Season 3 distribution will follow this same model, distributing linearly to users based on their portion of the total points earned.
Kamino Points incentivize ongoing use of Kamino’s products, thus, the best way to express the KMNO distribution is as yield earned on user positions in addition to native protocol yield. A total of $72.9M in interest was generated on Kamino during Season 3.
Defined as yield earned in addition to the $72.9M interest generated, a 350,000,000 KMNO distribution translates to an additional $25.1M of yield at the current price. Ultimately, then, a 3.5% distribution provides a 34.4% boost to yield generated on the protocol during Season 3.
KMNO Staking Impact
KMNO staking rewards users with a “Staking Boost” that multiplies points earned through protocol usage. Simply put, the more you stake, and the longer you stake, the greater your points boost.
Since the start of Season 2, users who continuously remained staked have accrued a staking boost of around 200% by the Season 3 snapshot.
Below we chart the impact of continuous KMNO staking on a $10,000 Season 3 airdrop:
The chart shows two user scenarios:
Blue User: Airdrop No Boost
- User with zero boost and zero KMNO staked
- Protocol usage leads to a $10,000 (134,500 KMNO) distribution in Season 3
Red User: Airdrop With Boost
- Identical protocol usage to above user
- Maximum points boost via continued staking
- $29,500 (397,000 KMNO) distribution in Season 3
This shows how continuous KMNO staking could nearly triple a user’s final distribution. This staking system will continue into Season 4.
Distribution and Season 4
Season 3 allocation checker is now live, and distribution will take place very soon. The distribution will be fully unlocked and staked, and users are free to unstake any time without a lock-up.
Season 4 will begin shortly after the Season 3 distribution. Season 4 will take on a completely new structure, with more transparency, and even more direct focus on product growth. Season 4 will focus on:
- Kamino Lend V2
- Kamino Swap
- Kamino RWAs
Kamino Lend V2
Kamino Lend V2 is coming very, very soon. Days, not weeks. Numerous smart contracts audits have been completed, and the final product touches are in progress.
Season 4 points will encourage usage of all the new V2 products—including automated lending vaults, margin leverage, new Multiply vaults, and a redesigned borrowing experience.
Kamino Swap
Kamino has become the platform of choice for Limit Orders on Solana, and the newly launched Meta-Swap product has introduced an extremely powerful market-order meta aggregator.
Season 4 will reward Kamino Swap usage—including Swap and Limit Orders.
Kamino RWAs
Kamino is the most trusted DeFi platform on Solana. With 14 external audits as well as formal verification, the protocol has become the primary venue for the growth of new assets issued on the chain—eg. PYUSD, USDS, FDUSD, and more.
In recent months, several discussions with industry leaders have revealed a strong appetite for institutional and RWA products. Kamino is set to lead in these areas on Solana, and Season 4 will encourage the adoption of such new product lines. More information will be shared soon.
Conclusion
Ultimately, Season 4 aims to drive substantial growth and ongoing usage across Kamino’s product suite. Throughout this new Season, we’ll also share additional insights into the vision for KMNO and how it will further support protocol expansion.
Stay tuned.