Kamino, a Solana lending protocol, has launched a market for tGBP, a stablecoin designed to track the British pound on a one-to-one basis. The market is curated by Steakhouse Financial and represents an expansion of onchain lending beyond dollar-denominated assets.
tGBP is issued by BCP Technologies, a firm registered as a cryptoasset business with the U.K.'s Financial Conduct Authority. On Kamino, users can supply tGBP to earn yield or borrow sterling-denominated liquidity against supported collateral including USDC, cbBTC, and JitoSOL.
Addressing a Gap in DeFi Credit
The market addresses a use case that has been difficult to serve in decentralized finance. British users and businesses with expenses and accounting denominated in pounds can now borrow in their home currency rather than relying on dollar stablecoins. Borrowing in dollars introduces foreign-exchange exposure on top of the underlying loan, a mismatch that a pound-denominated market helps eliminate.
Dollar Stablecoins Remain Dominant
The launch does not immediately establish sterling as a major onchain currency. Dollar stablecoins remain vastly larger and more liquid across crypto markets. This liquidity advantage is self-reinforcing: borrowers seek assets with the deepest markets, while lenders prefer pools with consistent demand and easy exit liquidity.
Building a non-dollar lending market requires more than creating the token. It needs sufficient lenders and borrowers to maintain competitive rates and usable liquidity. Kamino's tGBP market represents a relatively small step, though it points toward a more mature version of onchain credit that operates across multiple currencies rather than remaining heavily dollarized.
Real financial systems operate in many currencies. If decentralized finance is to serve businesses and users outside dollar-centric crypto trading, borrowing in local currencies will need to become normal rather than unusual.
