Institutions can now borrow against staked Solana while keeping assets in regulated custody
Anchorage Digital has teamed up with Kamino and Solana Company to create a new structure that lets institutions borrow against their staked Solana holdings. The interesting part is that the assets don’t need to leave regulated custody. This might help bridge some of the gaps between traditional finance and decentralized lending markets.
On Friday, Anchorage announced that their Atlas collateral management platform is expanding through integration with Kamino. Kamino is a decentralized lending protocol built on Solana. The collaboration includes Solana Company, which is a publicly traded Solana treasury that was created with Pantera Capital and Summer Capital.
How the borrowing structure works
Under this setup, institutions can use their natively staked SOL as collateral for onchain borrowing. The assets stay right where they are—at Anchorage Digital Bank, which is a federally chartered crypto bank. This means investors keep earning their staking rewards while also accessing liquidity through Kamino’s lending markets.
Anchorage acts as the collateral manager here. They oversee loan-to-value ratios, margin requirements, and handle liquidations if needed. Because the collateral remains in segregated custody, institutions don’t have to move assets into smart contracts. That requirement has been a sticking point for regulated entities in the past.
The regulatory landscape remains uncertain
This integration shows growing institutional interest in decentralized finance, but it’s happening against a backdrop of regulatory uncertainty in the United States. Lawmakers are still figuring out how to oversee digital assets and DeFi platforms.
The CLARITY Act is at the center of this debate. It’s supposed to establish clearer jurisdictional boundaries and regulatory standards for digital assets, including DeFi protocols. While the bill aims to reduce uncertainty, some DeFi advocates think it doesn’t go far enough in addressing how decentralized protocols, developers, and governance structures should be treated under the law.
Industry groups have raised concerns about earlier draft language, including amendments introduced in January. They say it doesn’t sufficiently distinguish between centralized intermediaries and decentralized systems.
With the CLARITY Act’s future hanging in the balance, the Trump administration recently convened a meeting with industry representatives. The goal was to break the impasse and gather feedback on outstanding provisions related to DeFi oversight and market structure.
I think this development with Anchorage and Kamino is interesting because it shows institutions are finding ways to participate in DeFi while working within existing regulatory frameworks. It’s a sort of middle ground approach. But whether this becomes a widespread model depends a lot on how the regulatory picture develops in the coming months.
