Kamino Taps Yieldstreet Co-Founder Michael Weisz as CEO for Wall Street Expansion

Solana lending protocol Kamino has named Yieldstreet co-founder Michael Weisz as chief executive as it builds a larger presence in New York and expands toward Wall Street. The company, which reports $1.4 billion in assets, plans to develop lending markets backed by tokenized real-world assets.

Kamino Builds a New York Base

Kamino said it is evaluating approximately 20,000 square feet of office space in New York and plans to hire a chief financial officer and head of legal. The new headquarters is intended to place the DeFi lender closer to asset managers, distribution platforms and institutional capital.

Weisz co-founded alternative investment platform Yieldstreet, now known as Willow Wealth. The platform deployed more than $6 billion alongside firms including Goldman Sachs, Carlyle, KKR and Ares.

“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,” Weisz said.

Kamino said it has processed more than $650 billion in cumulative transaction volume during its four years of operation. Its expansion adds traditional financial expertise to a protocol that has primarily enabled users to lend crypto assets or borrow against them.

Tokenized Assets Become Collateral

The company is extending that model to blockchain-based versions of traditional assets, including home equity loans, equities and U.S. Treasuries. Its PRIME lending market, developed with Figure Technologies and Hastra, uses Figure’s tokenized home equity loans as collateral.

Deposits in PRIME surpassed $600 million within 107 days of launch, according to Kamino. The protocol also said Nasdaq-listed Solana treasury firm Forward Industries and digital asset manager Galaxy use its infrastructure for tokenized equity and Treasury positions.

Tokenization has become a major focus for banks and asset managers seeking faster settlement, round-the-clock markets and new ways to use financial assets as collateral. Citi has projected that tokenized securities could represent a $5.5 trillion market by 2030.

The shift expands the role of DeFi beyond crypto-native lending. Key areas of Kamino’s strategy include:

• Financing tokenized real-world assets after they move onchain.
• Providing collateral markets for institutional asset holders.
• Building infrastructure that connects traditional distribution channels with blockchain-based markets.

What This Means

Kamino’s leadership change signals that Solana-based DeFi protocols are competing not only for crypto users, but also for institutional lending and collateral flows. A New York presence and an executive with experience in alternative investments could help Kamino navigate compliance, distribution and relationships with asset managers.

The strategy also exposes the protocol to the practical challenges of tokenized finance, where creating a blockchain representation is only one part of the process. As Weisz noted, the harder task is often building infrastructure that meets asset managers where they already operate. If Kamino can attract more tokenized assets and institutional users, it could strengthen Solana’s position in the emerging market for on-chain credit.