Institutional vaults, powered by Upshift
Eligible Kraken Institutional clients allocate into permissioned, curated onchain vaults directly from Kraken's qualified custody solution. Risk controls are fully configurable.
Vault configurationCustody has been the end of the line
For most institutions, coins are held securely and then they sit there. Earning onchain yield has meant new wallets, extra providers and machinery to coordinate centralized and onchain activity, a cost that keeps a large share of institutional capital idle.
Upshift provides the vault infrastructure and Kraken provides the qualified custody, liquidity, execution and financing around it, so clients get one relationship spanning both.
Institutional Vaults, from within custody
Allocate from the existing custody account
Eligible clients deploy into Institutional Vaults from the accounts they already hold with Kraken. No separate wallets, no additional providers, and no new counterparties or protocols to onboard.
The position returns to custody
The asset is deployed to selected vault contracts and a receipt token representing the position returns to the client's segregated Kraken qualified custody account. It is neither pooled nor rehypothecated, and it shows on the custody statement at its redeemable underlying value.
You set what the vault can touch
The allocator picks exactly which chains, tokens, protocols and contract functions their capital can interact with. The policy engine checks every transaction against that list before it executes.
Already a Kraken Institutional client?
Tell us the mandate you run and we will map which balances can sit in a vault, and what the vault would be allowed to do with them.
Idle balances become the starting point
Institutional allocators want a simple way to come onchain and earn yield on the assets they already hold. Vaults inside Kraken qualified custody give them that route.
Assets are activated where they sit
Balances already held with Kraken go to work without unwinding positions or leaving the platform. Risk parameters and reporting stay as the client set them.
A vault per mandate
Rather than routing every client into the same generic pool, Upshift builds dedicated vaults around a client's strategy, asset mix, liquidity needs and risk parameters.
Custody, prime and onchain in one place
Kraken pairs qualified custody with prime brokerage and financing, deep liquidity and execution, and staking and settlement. Upshift's vault infrastructure turns those balances into curated onchain yield.
"Custody should be the starting point for what institutions can do with their assets, not the ending point. Vaults are the next step in making Kraken Custody the most productive place for institutional capital to sit."
"Kraken and Upshift remove the operational overhead of sourcing yield efficiently across exchange, OTC and onchain markets that have kept capital idle. Together, clients can generate yield without spinning up new wallets, counterparties or protocols, while maintaining rigorous risk management built in."
Vault infrastructure institutions can hold
CeFi and DeFi in the same vault
One architecture routes capital through DeFi protocols and CeFi venues, so a mandate can reach yield sources that would otherwise need two separate operating stacks.
Controls at four levels
Upshift's policy engine checks every transaction against the approved chains, protocols, tokens and functions before it executes, so an instruction outside the mandate reverts.
A vetted curator network
Kraken and Upshift work with a curated group of vetted, professional vault curators across DeFi, CeFi, PayFi and real-world-asset strategies, with more curators to be announced.
One integration, 30+ chains
Upshift is deployed on 30+ chains. A client that starts in stablecoins and later wants BTC, or a second chain, gets another vault on the same integration.
Every balance sheet earns, wherever it sits
Institutions increasingly want access to DeFi, and the vault is the gateway they use to get there. Kraken Institutional is the first major custodian to bring that model to its clients through Upshift, with a roadmap across stablecoins, ETH and BTC.
Launch a vault with Upshift
Share your use case and the team will come back to you with a vault structure, a curator shortlist and a timeline.
FAQs
What is an Institutional Vault?
A permissioned vault built around one client. Upshift sets it up around that client's strategy, asset mix, liquidity needs and risk parameters, rather than routing every allocation into the same generic pool. The vault contract holds the assets, the curator runs the strategy inside limits enforced onchain, and the client holds a receipt token representing the position.
Who holds the assets?
The vault contract holds the pooled assets and the client holds a receipt token in their segregated Kraken qualified custody account. That token is neither pooled nor rehypothecated, and it shows on the custody statement at its redeemable underlying value, so clients keep clear visibility into what they can withdraw at any time.
What do the four control levels cover?
Chain, protocol, token and contract function. The allocator sets what is permitted at each level, and any transaction outside that set reverts instead of executing. Accounting is maintained at the same four levels.
Which assets are supported?
Idle stablecoin, ETH or BTC held through Kraken Institutional. The roadmap runs across stablecoins, ETH, BTC and the strategies beyond them.
Who runs the strategies?
Kraken and Upshift work with a curated group of vetted, professional vault curators spanning DeFi, CeFi, PayFi and real-world-asset strategies, with more curators to be announced. Curators trade inside the vault's mandate and cannot move funds to an outside address.
How does a client get started?
Through the existing Kraken Institutional relationship, or by contacting Upshift directly. The first conversation is usually about which balances sit idle, what the mandate should permit, and which curator fits the strategy.