Anchorage Digital, Kamino, and Solana (SOL) Company have launched a tri-party structure that lets institutions borrow against staked SOL on Kamino's lending markets while keeping the collateral in regulated custody.
The arrangement is designed to address a basic obstacle: most institutional compliance frameworks prohibit depositing assets directly into smart contracts.
How It Works
Under the model, staked SOL remains in segregated accounts at Anchorage Digital Bank, a federally chartered cryptocurrency custodian.
Institutions continue earning staking rewards - roughly 7% annually - while simultaneously accessing borrowing liquidity through Kamino, one of Solana's largest DeFi lending protocols.
Anchorage's Atlas collateral management platform handles automated oversight of loan-to-value ratios, margin movements, and liquidations around the clock.
Borrowers never transfer collateral into a protocol's smart contract directly, which is the step that has historically kept regulated firms away from DeFi lending.
Nathan McCauley, chief executive officer of Anchorage Digital, said the structure lets institutions use staked SOL "productively" without compromising on custody or compliance controls.
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Who's Involved
Solana Company is a publicly traded entity created in partnership with Pantera Capital and Summer Capital to serve as a long-term SOL treasury.
HSDT shares were trading near $1.93 on Thursday - close to a 52-week low - and the company reported a net loss of $352.8 million in the third quarter of 2025, according to Investing.com.
The companies describe the arrangement as a repeatable template for other treasury firms and venture investors seeking protocol-level credit with custodial safeguards.
Regulatory Backdrop
The launch arrives as U.S. lawmakers remain at an impasse over how to regulate decentralized finance.
The CLARITY Act, which passed the House in July 2025 with a bipartisan 294-to-134 vote, has stalled in the Senate after major industry players publicly withdrew support over revised language in January 2026.
Key sticking points include whether non-custodial DeFi developers should face compliance obligations designed for centralized intermediaries and how stablecoin yield products should be treated.
The Senate Banking Committee postponed a planned markup on Jan. 15 and has yet to reschedule.
Until that framework is finalized, hybrid structures like the Anchorage-Kamino model may be the primary way institutions can access DeFi lending markets while remaining within existing regulatory guardrails.
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