Kamino Accelerates U.S. Institutional Expansion, Taps Private Markets and AI Leaders to Build the Future of Onchain Credit

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The next chapter of onchain finance won't be defined by which assets get tokenized. It will be defined by what investors can do with them.

Kamino, the largest credit protocol on Solana, is accelerating its expansion into U.S. institutional markets to build the credit and liquidity infrastructure for that next chapter. The company today announced two strategic leadership appointments: Matthew Klopfer, a private markets veteran who helped scale Yieldstreet, as Head of U.S. Institutional Expansion, and Blake Messer, former Cratejoy technology and operations leader, as Head of Agentic Operations. Both report to CEO Michael Weisz and are among the first senior hires at Kamino’s new U.S. headquarters in New York City, where the company is building out a senior executive team.

“Matt and Blake each bring deep experience to a different part of what we’re building,” Weisz said. “Matt has been at the forefront of technology and private market distribution for over 10 years, and Blake spent 12 years at Cratejoy helping turn the company into an agent-native operation. As we grow from Solana’s leading credit platform into the liquidity layer for onchain assets, I can’t think of better people to build it with.”

They join a company that has processed more than $650 billion in cumulative transaction volume and originated more than $20 billion in loans, with zero bad debt across every market cycle.

Klopfer joins from Yieldstreet, now Willow Wealth, where he helped build a private markets platform that syndicated more than $6 billion across more than 650 transactions. He will broaden access to private markets and connect asset managers and financial institutions to Kamino’s onchain credit and liquidity infrastructure.

“Earlier in my career, my thesis was that private markets have a place in every investor’s portfolio,” Klopfer said. “My thesis today is that onchain finance is the technology paradigm that makes that a reality. It was Michael’s vision for private markets that I instantly connected with a decade ago, and the opportunity at Kamino shares many similarities with that moment. History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.”

Messer joins from Cratejoy, where he rose from staff engineer to chief technology officer and helped make the company agent-native. He will build the AI-powered systems that help Kamino move deals faster and give teams sharper visibility into performance.

“Companies succeed or fail by how well and fast they drive operational excellence,” Messer said. “I joined Kamino to build the systems that keep the company ahead of its growth, using agents to give everyone on the business side more leverage. What we’re doing is deeply needed and fundamentally new, and I’m excited to be a pioneer in the space.”

Private markets are growing, but the infrastructure supporting them hasn't kept pace. Connecting asset managers with financial platforms still requires complex legal, operational and technical work, while investors often face years of limited liquidity.

Kamino is building the credit, liquidity and distribution infrastructure to change that. Its platform enables asset managers to distribute investments across multiple financial platforms and investors to borrow against assets without selling them. With Forward Industries (FWDI) and Galaxy (GLXY) already using Kamino as live collateral infrastructure, and Figure's PRIME product built with Kamino, the company is helping define the next phase of onchain finance.

Kamino is hiring top talent to build infrastructure institutions can trust and rely on. Interested candidates can apply at https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/kamino/. Asset managers, financial platforms, institutions and customers can contact [e-mail].

About Kamino

Kamino is the largest credit protocol on Solana and the largest credit platform for real-world assets onchain, with more than $650 billion in cumulative transaction volume and more than $20 billion in loans originated with zero bad debt across every market cycle. The protocol has never experienced a hack or security incident and has undergone 30+ independent audits and four formal verifications. Kamino’s infrastructure is fully open source and is used by institutional participants including licensed exchanges, federally chartered digital asset banks and publicly listed companies including Nasdaq-listed Forward Industries and Galaxy.

Kamino’s U.S. headquarters is in New York City. To learn more about the company, technology solutions and career opportunities, visit us on LinkedIn, on X @Kamino, or our website at www.kamino.com.