Getting Started: Using Kerne
Getting started takes under five minutes. Here is the step by step process.
Which route you are on decides what you pay, so start here. The live route is to mint kUSD from USDC through the Peg Stability Module, then stake that kUSD into skUSD to earn. It charges the tiered PSM swap fee on the way in, nothing to stake, and it has no cooldown. The steps below describe the other route, a collateral deposit into the KerneVault WETH vault, which is whitelist-gated and currently holds no depositors. The 0.05% deposit fee and the 7 day cooldown in this section are terms of that vault and are not charged on the live route.
Step 1: Connect Your Wallet
Visit the Kerne terminal and connect a compatible wallet. Popular options include MetaMask, Coinbase Wallet, Rabby, and WalletConnect.
Step 2: Switch to the Correct Network
Make sure your wallet is connected to Base (Chain ID 8453). If the app detects a network mismatch, a prompt to switch will appear automatically.
Step 3: Choose Your Deposit Asset
Select your asset and enter the amount you wish to deposit. There is no minimum. The interface will show you the current estimated APY (live, based on real time funding rates and staking yield) and the estimated vault shares you will receive. A 0.05% KerneVault deposit fee is deducted from your deposit amount. Minting kUSD through the PSM instead is priced by size rather than at this rate, and staking kUSD into skUSD is free.
Step 4: Approve and Deposit
Approve the token spend (required for ERC 20 tokens on first interaction, costs approximately $0.01 on Base), then confirm the deposit transaction. Gas fees are paid in ETH on Base and are typically around $0.03.
Step 5: Start Earning
Your vault share balance will appear in your wallet and on the Kerne dashboard immediately after the transaction confirms. Yield begins accruing from the moment of deposit. Opal Fragments tracking begins immediately as well.
Withdrawing from the KerneVault
You can request a withdrawal at any time by calling requestWithdrawal. There is a 7 day cooldown period to allow the hedging engine to close the corresponding hedge position in an orderly manner. After the cooldown, you call claimWithdrawal to receive your deposited collateral plus accrued yield. Your vault shares are burned upon claim. There is no withdrawal fee.
That cooldown is a KerneVault term and does not apply to the live route. Unstaking skUSD back to kUSD is immediate, and the deployed skUSD contract has no cooldown function at all. Redeeming kUSD for USDC through the PSM is also immediate, but it is bounded by the reserve on the module you redeem against rather than by time, and that reserve is published live at app.kerne.fi/api/por.
Monitoring Your Position
Your Kerne dashboard displays your vault share balance, estimated yield accrued, Opal Fragments accumulated, current protocol APY, and Proof of Reserves verification status. The Transparency page provides real time verification of the vault's collateralization ratio and asset breakdown.
Institutional Onboarding
There is no separate institutional tier. The solvency endpoints are public and unauthenticated for everyone, the vault whitelist is currently a closed door rather than a privileged one, and no custody integration has been built or tested. An institution evaluating Kerne is reading the same numbers as anyone else, which is the intended posture at this size. What an engagement actually looks like, including who you would be contracting with, is set out at kerne.fi/institutional.