The debate surrounding decentralized money markets on X was stirred when Alex Svanevik, founder of Nansen, questioned the absence of Aave on Solana. Solana currently touts Kamino as its largest money market protocol.
As per DefiLlama data, Aave is present in 13 blockchains, amassing nearly $19.6 billion in total value locked (TVL). In contrast, Kamino, also a money market protocol, has a TVL of over $2.3 billion, making it the third-largest application on Solana.
Kyle Samani, a partner at Multicoin Capital, brought Kamino into comparison with Aave, kick-starting a dialogue that soon drew in key figures from both platforms. Svanevik responded by pointing out that Aave’s TVL is nearly 10 times larger than Kamino’s, and argued that users would prefer Aave if it were available on Solana.
This was met with opposition from Lily Liu, the president of the Solana Foundation, who claimed that Kamino is a superior product and that today’s metrics might not hold value tomorrow. Liu’s statement, given her significant role in the Solana ecosystem, drew criticism from some quarters.
Mats Olsen, co-founder of Dune, intervened, suggesting that it would be more beneficial to open Solana to Aave rather than engage in application comparisons. Svanevik concurred with Olsen’s viewpoint.
Stani Kulechov, the founder of Avara, Aave’s parent group, responded to Liu’s comments with a critique of Solana DeFi, accusing it of copying Aave’s old technology, implementing a half-baked user interface, and excluding UK users.
Liu defended her statement by acknowledging her potential bias as the Solana Foundation supports “homegrown” applications. She referred to Kulechov’s response as an “outburst.”
Anatoly Yakovenko, co-founder of Solana Labs, shifted the focus of the discussion from TVL to the applications’ revenue. He pointed out that despite Aave having over eight times Kamino’s TVL, Kamino recorded $52 million in annualized revenue compared to Aave’s $126.3 million.
Kulechov countered Yakovenko’s argument by attributing the revenue difference to Kamino taking a “bigger cut” of users’ fees. He highlighted the USD Coin (USDC) Reserve Factor of both platforms, with Kamino taking 5% more than Aave.
Kulechov further noted, “I guess there isn’t enough competition yet on Solana and users are paying the price for that.”
While Aave has the largest liquidity in the money market sector, Kamino has been developing its offerings. After the recent market crash on Feb. 2, Aave processed $210 million in liquidations, but Kamino added tools to its interface to help users leverage their borrowing positions.
