Kamino links most of CEO’s KMNO vesting to valuation while holders have no foundation revenue claim

Michael Weisz, CEO of Kamino, has tied most of his KMNO allocation to sustained token valuations, according to the Solana lending protocol’s November 3 disclosure. The same announcement tells holders that owning the token gives them no claim on foundation revenue, distributions or equity.

Kamino’s November 3 release describes both the CEO’s incentive arrangement and a $20 million foundation commitment to support its long-term growth plans over the next 24 months. It leaves capital allocation as the step between money accruing to the foundation and any future financial benefit for holders.

Most of Weisz’s KMNO allocation vests only when progressively higher valuation milestones are reached and sustained, the release says. A temporary increase in price does not satisfy the requirement.

That condition concerns most of his allocation. The release does not say that every founder, contributor or investor allocation follows the same rules, and it supplies neither the numerical milestones nor the period for which each must be sustained.

For holders, the incentive aligns part of the CEO’s compensation with sustained token valuations.

Kamino says the foundation has no shareholders, members or beneficiaries, operates under an independent board, and receives all onchain and offchain revenue and intellectual property. Its description places the protocol’s earnings and the foundation’s broader resources within one organization.

The release then states the limit on what that structure means for holders: “KMNO is not a claim on Foundation revenue, distributions or equity.”

DefiLlama’s Kamino data, captured at 20:10 UTC on November 3, makes the economic distinction concrete. Over the preceding 30 days, it recorded $5 million in fees, $607,996 in protocol revenue and $0 in tracked holder revenue.

Each number answers a different question. Fees measure charges generated by tracked activity. Protocol revenue measures the portion retained by the protocol. Holder revenue tracks value reaching holders, rather than assuming everything the protocol earns reaches tokenholders.

For Kamino’s lending products, DefiLlama includes interest, liquidation charges and origination charges in fees. Revenue includes interest spreads, part of liquidation charges and all origination charges; for liquidity products, it includes the protocol’s share of liquidity fees.