Chainlink powers tokenized equity lending with Kamino and xStocks integration

Kamino, a major decentralized finance protocol, announced the integration of xStocks into its lending infrastructure. Users can now borrow stablecoins by using tokenized equities as collateral—all onchain and permissionless. Powered by Chainlink’s Data Streams, the integration introduces a new xStocks market on Kamino Lend, starting with AAPLx, a tokenized version of Apple Inc. stock.

This reportedly makes Kamino the first major DeFi borrow/lend protocol to accept tokenized equities as collateral. 

Unlocking Onchain Credit

Traditionally, accessing credit against real-world assets involves paperwork, banks, and regulatory bottlenecks. With Kamino’s integration of xStocks, the process is reduced to smart contracts, wallet permissions, and verifiable data. It’s permissionless, programmable, and instantaneous.

Kamino’s V2 infrastructure powers this new system. The platform allows users to deploy their xStocks—like AAPLx—as collateral and borrow stablecoins directly on Solana. More tokenized stocks, such as TSLAx and SPYx, are expected to follow soon. Kamino’s roadmap aims to support margin trading and asset swaps in the same ecosystem.

In essence, Kamino is building an onchain version of Wall Street, except it's open 24/7, without closing bells or third-party custodians.

Chainlink Powers Real-Time Stock Data

Known for its decentralized oracle networks, Chainlink now provides bespoke xStocks price feeds to Kamino. These data streams offer sub-second price updates, institutional-grade accuracy, and end-to-end onchain verification of stock performance.

Chainlink is now the official xStocks oracle provider, delivering real-time price data with high frequency and low latency. The setup mirrors the speed and quality of centralized exchanges, but without the trust assumptions.

Each tokenized equity is backed 1:1 by the real security, and Chainlink ensures that users on Solana can act on reliable data—crucial for lending, borrowing, and margin operations.

Bridging DeFi and TradFi with xStocks

The launch of xStocks on June 30 was already seen as a milestone. It enabled tokenized equity trading for over 60 U.S. stocks, including Apple, Tesla, and the S&P 500 ETF. These assets are now freely transferable, available 24/7, and listed on major centralized exchanges such as Bybit, Kraken, Bitget, and Gate.io.

What Kamino has done is take that a step further—by unlocking collateral lending on Solana using these assets. 

Kamino’s long-term vision is to become a full-suite onchain asset marketplace. That means one place to swap, lend, borrow, or leverage tokenized assets, all without needing off-chain intermediaries. The integration of xStocks is a major leap toward that goal.

Chainlink’s Broader Ecosystem Expands Rapidly

Kamino’s xStocks launch is part of a larger trend: Chainlink’s infrastructure is rapidly becoming the backbone for real-world assets onchain.

• OnRe, the first onchain reinsurance platform, recently joined the Chainlink ecosystem via Onchain NAV. The protocol now publishes real-time NAV data for its yield-bearing token ONyc, bringing transparency to the opaque $750B reinsurance market.
• On July 3, Botanix, a Bitcoin-based Layer 2, launched on mainnet with Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP), Data Feeds, and Data Streams from day one. This makes Chainlink the official interoperability layer for Botanix.
• On July 7, Katana became the latest DeFi platform to join the Chainlink SCALE program, tapping into Chainlink’s secure data and messaging tools.