Kamino Launches New Swap Feature

Kamino, the largest decentralized exchange on Solana, is launching a new swap feature, according to Kamino co-founder Marius Ciubotariu, who shared the news at The Block’s Emergence conference in Prague on Thursday.

According to Ciubotariu, the platform will be "intents-based," a relatively new design in the world of DEXs that enables users to request various app interactions, such as moving funds or executing trades.

Kamino Swap, currently live in beta, aims to solve inefficiencies in the current Solana exchange landscape — including network congestion, account lock limits, and slippage.

The product will leverage real-time data provider Pyth Network to offer what Ciubotariu claimed are the lowest prices for any Solana-based asset — benefiting both liquidators and traders — along with the lowest fees.

In his presentation, Ciubotariu demonstrated swapping tokens simultaneously on Kamino and its centralized competitor Coinbase, where the latter was noticeably slower.

Initially developed to enhance Kamino Lend’s efficiency and profitability, the platform aims to create a more competitive limit order venue to improve the liquidation process. Ciubotariu noted that under the previous paradigm, liquidators required costly custom codes and incentives to onboard, which added extra costs.

To resolve these issues, when a user places a trade, Kamino Swap broadcasts the request to a network of "searchers" — bots that seek out maximal extractable value (MEV) by bundling transactions sent to a "builder" that creates the blocks. These searchers then compete in an auction to execute the transaction at the best price.

“It is through the heavy competition of solvers, outbidding each other to win the trade, that the user gets the best price for their swap,” the team explained in a governance post.

Users will select a desired price or range when trading and even receive a "tip" in SOL from searchers, drawn from the value that would have otherwise been lost to miners. Searchers must provide a tip to win a limit book auction.

The beta version starts with SOL and USDC, with plans to include more tokens soon.