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Setting up a Kamino market splits cleanly into two phases. Phase 1 is market setup: a small, fixed set of global, one-time actions that bring a market into existence and put it under multisig control. Phase 2 is reserve setup: the per-asset configuration work, repeated once for each token you want to list. Almost every meaningful risk decision a curator makes is at the reserve level. After that, you operate the market: ongoing reserve updates, optional feature toggles, incident response.

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Phase 1 · Market setup (global)

Three actions, done once. Nothing here touches a specific asset.

Create the market

Run create-market. The CLI returns a market address. The market exists on-chain but has no reserves yet, so it accepts nothing.→ Create a market

Set market-wide config

Set the market name, referral fee, emergency council, and any other market-level fields you want to override from defaults. Most curators take defaults and revisit this only when a specific market-wide flag needs flipping.→ Market settings

Transfer ownership to a multisig

Move the lending_market_owner from your hot wallet to a Squads multisig. Two-step: cache the new owner, then promote it. From here on, every market or reserve update goes through a multisig proposal.→ Transfer to multisig

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Phase 2 · Reserve setup (per asset)

The bulk of curator work. Repeat for each token you want to list. Each reserve has its own LTV, liquidation threshold, IR curve, oracle config, capacity caps, fees, and farm wiring; risk decisions are made here, per asset.

Add the reserve

Submit add-asset-to-market with a reserve config JSON for the asset’s mint. The reserve account is created on-chain with its initial parameters.→ Add a reserve

Configure the oracle

Wire the reserve to a Scope price feed and set TWAP and staleness guards.→ Configure oracles

Set risk parameters

LTV, liquidation threshold, borrow factor, IR curve, deposit and borrow caps, liquidation bonus min/max.→ Risk parameters

Set withdrawal caps (optional)

Per-interval flow limits on the reserve. Useful for newly-listed assets and regulated tokens.→ Withdrawal caps

Wire farms and rewards

Most curators set up at least a collateral farm at launch to attract depositors. Debt farms are optional, used to subsidize borrowing.→ Farms & rewards

Make it a fixed rate reserve (optional)

For lending venues that offer fixed-rate / fixed-term debt: set debt_term_seconds, host_fixed_interest_rate_bps, and the early-repay penalty on the reserve, and the rollover windows on the market.→ Fixed rate reserves

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Phase 3 · Optional features

Features that toggle on top of a market. Most curators leave them off by default; enable per the use case. A minimal market (one reserve, defaults across the board, no advanced features) is fully functional. Reach for these only when there’s a use case.

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Phase 4 · Operate

After the market is live, the recurring operations: Every change after the multisig transfer goes through a Squads proposal subject to the configured timelock. → Updating reserves · Emergency controls · Withdrawing protocol fees

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What’s mandatory before deposits can happen

Phase 1 + at least one reserve fully through Phase 2: Multisig ownership transfer is not strictly enforced by the program. It is the production prerequisite Kamino recommends before any external user touches the market.

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Where the work happens

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Continue

Quickstart

Stand up a working market on staging in ~10 minutes.

Create a market

The single CLI command and what it does on-chain.