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Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://kamino.com/docs/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

This page explains the structural and economic concepts that shape how a curator should think about fixed-rate reserves. If you’re new to fixed rates, read this before Allocations.

The rate grid

A single market now serves each debt token through multiple reserves:
  • One floating-rate reserve — rate fluctuates with utilization (existing behaviour)
  • Zero or more fixed-rate reserves — each with a constant borrow rate and a fixed term, e.g. USDC 5.0% 1M, USDC 5.5% 3M, USDC 6.0% 6M
These reserves sit on a rate grid organised by rate × duration. Example for USDC in a single market:
Rate1 month3 months6 months12 months
5.0%USDC 5.0% 1MUSDC 5.0% 3M
5.5%USDC 5.5% 3MUSDC 5.5% 6M
6.0%USDC 6.0% 3MUSDC 6.0% 6MUSDC 6.0% 12M
7.0%USDC 7.0% 6MUSDC 7.0% 12M
Not every cell is populated. The market manager decides which rate × duration cells exist (see Markets → Fixed Rates). Each fixed-rate reserve is fully isolated. It has its own liquidity pool, its own borrowers, its own lenders, and its own utilization. A position in USDC 5.5% 3M has no interaction with USDC 6.0% 6M. A large repayment or withdrawal in one reserve does not affect liquidity in adjacent ones. The allocations UI shows reserve type, rate, term, supply APY, TVL, and utilization for each reserve. Use those as your primary allocation signals.

Term premium and the emerging yield curve

The rate grid creates a visible, on-chain term structure: what the market currently prices for 1-month, 3-month, 6-month, and 12-month USDC lending. This is the yield curve for that debt token. The term premium is the additional yield lenders require to commit capital for a longer duration. If 3-month USDC clears at 5.0% and 6-month clears at 5.5%, the term premium for the additional 3 months is 50 bps — compensation for reduced liquidity and increased uncertainty over the longer horizon. For curators, the practical implication: the longer cells of the grid tend to clear at higher rates. If your depositor profile tolerates duration, the marginal yield is there. Reading the grid across maturities (1M → 3M → 6M → 12M) shows where the market currently prices duration. To act on a signal — add or expand an FR allocation — see Allocations and Configure allocations.

How borrowers take fixed-rate liquidity

Two independent paths bring borrow demand into a fixed-rate reserve. Your allocation responds the same way to either.

Direct borrow

A borrower with sufficient collateral sees available liquidity in the fixed-rate reserve and borrows it in a single atomic transaction. This is the same flow as borrowing from any reserve — there is no “order” sitting on-chain, no standing intent. The borrower acts now: collateral posted, debt taken, transaction lands in one slot. For a curator, this means:
  • A Standard allocation is immediately usable by direct borrows from the moment it lands.
  • A Conditional allocation can also satisfy a direct borrow — the vault’s atomic-fill path triggers as part of the borrow transaction, moving capital from a floating source into the FR reserve and serving the borrow in one shot.

Borrow order

A borrower posts a standing intent: “I want to borrow X tokens at a max rate of Y for at least Z duration, fillable until T.” The order doesn’t borrow anything yet — it sits on-chain until matching reserve liquidity is available, at which point a fill bot (or anyone, since the fill instruction is permissionless) executes the borrow on the borrower’s behalf. Borrow order parameters:
FieldMeaning
debtLiquidityMintToken the borrower wants
requestedDebtAmountOriginally requested size
remainingDebtAmountStill unfilled
maxBorrowRateBpsCeiling rate the borrower accepts
minDebtTermSecondsMinimum acceptable term (0 = open-term only)
fillableUntilTimestampExpiry
filledDebtDestinationBorrower-owned token account where filled funds land
Orders fill atomically against any matching reserve. Fill ordering between competing reserves is random — first transaction to execute wins; no priority by submission time, order size, or any other factor. Partial fills are allowed: if the matching reserve has only some of the requested liquidity, the available portion fills immediately and the order remains open for the remainder. Each filled portion accrues interest from the slot it fills. For a curator, the borrow-order book is a source of demand signal. An order that’s been sitting unfilled for hours at 5.5% / 6M is the market telling you there’s appetite at that cell. Adding capacity there (Conditional or Standard) lets your vault capture the fill — see Allocations for the FR-specific allocation guidance, and Configure allocations for the workflow.

Why FR yields can be higher

The general yield formula Supply APY ≈ Borrow Rate × Utilization × (1 − Protocol Take Rate) is covered in Concepts → Yield & fees. The FR-specific observation: Fixed-rate reserves can run at high utilization when matched with active borrow demand. At 100% utilization, the × utilization factor disappears and lenders earn the borrow rate net of the protocol take for the full term:
  • A floating reserve at 70% utilization paying a 6% borrow rate passes roughly 4.2% to lenders before protocol take.
  • A fixed reserve at 100% utilization paying 5.5% passes 5.5% × (1 − take rate) for the locked duration.
The economics depend on demand actually showing up. An empty fixed-rate reserve is idle capital regardless of the headline rate — which is the central reason curators typically use Conditional rather than Standard allocation for fixed-rate exposure: capital earns floating yield while waiting for demand instead of sitting idle in the FR reserve. The term premium compounds this — longer-duration reserves clear at higher rates than shorter ones, and capturing it is one of the structural alpha sources FR enables.

What’s next

Allocations

Standard vs. Conditional in the FR context, fill mechanics, priority, setup.

Lifecycle

What your capital experiences from fill through exits.