Aave founder accuses Solana lending protocol Kamino of being a copycat, sparking intense war of words between the two sides

As the flagship of the Ethereum Decentralized Finance lending sector, Aave recently publicly accused Solana on-chain lending protocol Kamino of copying its old technology and criticized its immature user interface. This statement immediately triggered a strong backlash from the Solana community, leading to a war of words between the two sides on technical innovation, user experience, and market dominance. (Background: Should Aave support Solana sparked community debate, what is truly important?) (Background: The Ethereum Foundation allocated 50,000 ETH to participate in Decentralized Finance, and has carried out test transactions on Aave) Aave, the leader in lending protocols in the Ethereum ecosystem, is facing fierce competition from the Solana ecosystem. According to Token Terminal data, Solana's on-chain lending project Kamino has seen a staggering 1,368% growth in net deposits since January 2024. In comparison, Aave and Morpho only experienced approximately 213% and 214% growth in net deposits during the same period, highlighting Kamino's significantly faster growth rate compared to its main competitors. Aave's co-founder publicly accused Kamino of merely imitating Aave's co-founder Stani Kulechov. Recently, Kulechov posted on X, directly stating that Kamino is a mimic of Aave's "old technology" and criticizing its interface as a "half-baked product." This statement quickly provoked a strong counterattack from the Solana community, with even Solana's co-founder Toly publicly responding, saying "believes Kamino is better." Aave's early team member Marc Zeller also joined the criticism, questioning how other Decentralized Finance projects handle issues. Despite Kulechov's harsh criticism of Kamino, he stated in a recent podcast that the more developers on-chain, the better, regardless of where they start or end. If Solana has more developers building a resilient, secure, and reliable Decentralized Finance ecosystem, I would be happier. The state of Solana Decentralized Finance: - Copycat Aave's old tech - Slap a half-baked UI - Also restrict UK users from using it - Solana Foundation president calls it a better product Expect people to buy the bluff. - Stani.eth (@StaniKulechov) February 10, 2025 Despite Aave team's dissatisfaction, the preferences of on-chain users indeed reflect the changing trends in the Decentralized Finance ecosystem. With projects on Solana such as Kamino performing well, attracting a large amount of funds and developers, the Decentralized Finance lending market is gradually shifting from Ethereum to Solana. Solana's co-founder Toly shared the Decentralized FinanceLlama interface of Aave and Kamino, stating that Kamino's Total Value Locked (TVL) is 1/8 of Aave's, but its revenue accounts for 40%. 1/8 TVL but 1/2.5 revenue. I can't see Aave as a better product. TVL is a cost you cannot extract revenue from. In response to this view, Stani also pointed out that Kamino charges a fee of 15% per transaction or pool, while Aave only charges 10%, believing this is a result of the current lack of competitiveness in the Solana ecosystem, leading to weaker bargaining power for users when choosing a Decentralized Finance platform, resulting in higher fees ultimately borne by users. Both sides have their reasons, but the Solana ecosystem has indeed been more active recently, led by meme coins, compared to the Ethereum ecosystem. Who will dominate the Decentralized Finance market in the future? This requires further observation over time. Related reports: Should Aave support Solana sparked community debate, what is truly important? The Ethereum Foundation allocated 50,000 ETH to participate in Decentralized Finance and has conducted test transactions on Aave. Trump revealed his cards? Family Decentralized Finance project WLFI increased the position by tens of thousands of dollars in BTC, Ethereum, AAVE, ONDO... This article was first published on BlockTempo, the most influential blockchain news media in the dynamic Block industry.