Solana-based decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol Kamino is preparing for the first airdrop of its native KMNO token in April. During a Solana developer call held on Thursday, March 7th, a contributor said it will take a snapshot of wallet addresses that actively use the DeFi protocol on March 31st. These wallets will be eligible for the token airdrop happening next month.
DeFi Lending and Borrowing Platform Kamino To Airdrop Native Token Next Month
Kamino is a crypto borrowing, lending, and yield framing platform that is native to the Solana ecosystem. The protocol allows users to employ various strategies to trade tokens deployed on the Solana blockchain.
In 2023, Kamino launched a points program to incentivize users who conduct trades on the platform and also to set them up for a future token airdrop, following in the footsteps of other Solana-native DeFi platforms like Jito and Jupiter.
KMNO Tokens will be Distributed Based on the Points Earned by Users
In an X post, the Kamino team wrote that the initial community distribution will be done in a “linear fashion”, based on Season 1 of Kamino Points. This means that if a user owns 1% of the total Season 1 Points, they are eligible to receive 1% of the total initial community distribution.
Thomas, a contributor to Kamino, said during the monthly Solana developer call that the amount of KMNO tokens a user will receive depends on the number of points they contributed to the platform.
7% of the total KMNO supply will be allocated for the initial community distribution of Season 1 points.
He also noted that Kamino will employ safety mechanisms to prevent airdrop farmers from conducting a Sybil attack on the DeFi platform using multiple wallets.
Sybil farming refers to the practice of a single user creating multiple wallets and addresses to manipulate engagement on a protocol to receive a larger allocation of the airdropped tokens.
KMNO will serve as the governance asset on Kamino. Token holders will ultimately influence the crypto lending and borrowing protocol’s various initiatives, such as the incentive program, revenue disbursements, operations, and risk management.
Kamino will have a total supply of 10 billion KMNO, of which 10% is to be distributed upon its debut in April. The project plans to continue distributing tokens with subsequent drop seasons. Phase 2 of the airdrop will begin in April with another one likely to occur at a later date.
“Season 2 will emphasize loyalty and sustained usage of Kamino’s products”, read a tweet by the team.
The Community has Mixed Opinions on Kamino’s Airdrop Strategy
However, Kamino’s announcement has spurred controversy among community members, with many criticizing the DeFi platform’s decision to linearly distribute its native token to users. Some highlighted the lack of priority or special treatment for early adopters.
While discussing the subject on Kamino’s official Discord channel, one user, who went by the screen name ‘xoxoxoxoox’, questioned why there was nothing given to those who were part of the project from the beginning.
“So… I can make a brand new wallet, deposit 100k and get to the top 100, and be better than all the early users?”, they asked, to which another member of the group responded by saying “Yup”.
Meanwhile, “DeusNero”, who is an admin, contributor, and moderator of the Kamino Discord channel, defended the Solana-based DeFi protocol’s decision to go with a linear distribution model, saying it removes the risk of Sybil farming the tokens and then dumbing them to deflate its value.
Other members condemned Kamino’s decision to announce the future snapshot date. One user called “@mxddd_69” on the project’s Telegram channel wrote that by mentioning the next snapshot date they would just be providing tokens to those who simply farm and dump them, nullifying the contributions of the original depositors.
A Kamino team member responded to the comment by stating that the platform is optimizing for liquidity and usability, and not for “one-time stimmy (stimulus) cheques”.
Other community members supported Kamino’s airdrop plan. A user called “Deeze” wrote on X that they love the idea of a timeline for their points. Another user, who goes by “0xjaypeg”, said the team’s strategy “makes total sense” from a business perspective as Kamino focuses on TVL inflows and “demarcates rewarding whales vs loyal users by separating seasons”.
Kamino is the Fourth-Largest DeFi Protocol on the Solana Blockchain
Following the announcement of the snapshot date, the locked value in Kamino smart contracts has increased substantially. The total value locked (TVL) on Kamino currently stands at $633.8 million, which is a $106.7 million increase from the previous day.
The total number of points earned by Kamino users currently stands at 112.89 billion. The top 20 addresses on the decentralized lending and borrowing platform collectively own about 23.9 billion points, which is more than 20% of the total amount.
Kamino is ranked the fourth-largest DeFi protocol on Solana, according to data sourced from blockchain aggregator website DefiLlama.
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