Kamino Finance lending lead over Jupiter Lend shrinks

The quick take

Price: Kamino Finance ($KMNO) $0.0401, -1.4% in 24 hours; Jupiter Exchange ($JUP) $0.345, +4.6% (CoinGecko, 17:39 UTC).
Trigger: Jupiter Lend deposits rose 15.8% in seven days while Kamino Lend slipped 3.7%, per DefiLlama.
Watch: whether Jupiter Lend passes Kamino Lend in total deposits and in borrowing.

The Kamino Finance lending lead over Jupiter Lend is down to $36.6 million. Kamino Lend held $1.39 billion in total value locked (TVL) and Jupiter Lend held $1.35 billion as of 17:41 UTC on Oct. 5, according to DefiLlama. A week earlier, the gap was about $280 million.

Kamino Finance ($KMNO) has run the largest lending market on Solana ($SOL) for a long time. Jupiter Exchange ($JUP) launched Jupiter Lend later, and it has grown quickly. The two lenders now sit almost level.

What happened

Jupiter Lend’s TVL rose 15.8% over seven days and 2.8% over the past day, DefiLlama data shows. Over the same stretch, Kamino Lend fell 3.7% over seven days and 0.5% over the past day.

On Sept. 28, DefiLlama’s daily reading put Kamino Lend at $1.47 billion, its highest level in the past five weeks. Jupiter Lend stood at $1.19 billion that day. Since then, Kamino Lend has lost about $84 million, while Jupiter Lend has added about $159 million. In one week, the gap between them shrank by about $243 million.

Borrowing is even closer. DefiLlama shows $1.01 billion borrowed on Kamino Lend and $983 million borrowed on Jupiter Lend. That leaves a gap of only about $25 million in active loans. Borrowing shows how much of each market is in use, not just parked.

Why it moved

DefiLlama tracks deposits, not the reasons behind them, and the cause of this week’s shift is not confirmed. Kamino’s separate liquidity vaults, listed as Kamino Liquidity, held $75.6 million and barely moved, down 0.2% in seven days.

Part of any TVL change is price. TVL counts deposits at market value, so a weaker $SOL lowers the figure for both lenders at once. $SOL traded at $119.82 at 17:39 UTC, down 1.5% in 24 hours, according to CoinGecko. That pressure hits both markets, so it does not explain why one grew and the other shrank.

The longer trend is clearer. Jupiter Lend held $1.09 billion on Aug. 29, per DefiLlama, so it has grown about 24% in just over five weeks. Kamino Lend held $1.25 billion that day and is up about 11% since then.

Who’s buying and selling

The two governance tokens moved in opposite directions this week. $KMNO traded at $0.0401 at 17:39 UTC, down 1.4% in 24 hours and 8.8% in seven days, according to CoinGecko. $JUP traded at $0.345, up 4.6% in 24 hours and 4.6% in seven days.

Token prices and lending deposits are separate markets. A lender or borrower on either platform does not need to hold its token. Still, the token moves line up with the shift in deposits this week.

Together, the two lenders hold about $2.74 billion. That equals roughly 41% of the $6.72 billion that DefiLlama counts as Solana DeFi TVL. Where this liquidity sits shapes borrowing rates and depth for the whole network.

What to watch next

Whether Jupiter Lend passes Kamino Lend in total deposits on DefiLlama’s daily readings.
Borrowing totals, where the gap between the two is only about $25 million.
Kamino Lend’s seven-day trend after its Sept. 28 high of $1.47 billion.
Large swings in $SOL, which move both lenders’ TVL at the same time.

Bottom line: Solana’s two biggest lending markets are now less than 3% apart in deposits, and the race for first place is close.