Kamino names CEO as $1.4B expansion begins

• Kamino has appointed Yieldstreet co-founder Michael Weisz as CEO as it establishes a New York headquarters.
• The Solana lending protocol has $1.4 billion in assets and has processed more than $650 billion in transactions.
• Kamino plans to expand lending against tokenised real-world assets and build closer links with Wall Street firms.

Kamino (CRYPTO:KMNO), a Solana (CRYPTO:SOL) lending protocol with $1.4 billion in assets, has appointed Michael Weisz as CEO.

The appointment has accompanied plans for a New York headquarters as Kamino expands into tokenised real-world assets.

“Being in New York puts Kamino at the intersection of the asset managers, distribution platforms and institutional capital that will define the next phase of on-chain finance,” said Kamino CEO Michael Weisz.

Kamino has been considering about 20,000 square feet of New York office space and plans to hire a chief financial officer and head of legal.

The protocol has processed more than $650 billion in cumulative transactions over four years, while its PRIME lending market has attracted more than $600 million in deposits.

Kamino has extended its lending model to tokenised assets, including blockchain-based home equity loans, while Forward Industries and Galaxy Digital use its infrastructure for tokenised equity and U.S. Treasury positions.

Weisz has previously co-founded Yieldstreet, now Willow Wealth, which has deployed more than $6 billion alongside firms including Goldman Sachs, Carlyle, KKR and Ares, while Kamino has moved to position its infrastructure closer to traditional financial institutions.

At the time of reporting, Solana price was $97.58.