Institutional vaults, powered by Upshift
Eligible Kraken Institutional clients allocate into permissioned onchain vaults from their qualified custody account.
Vault configuration
Custody kept assets safe and idle
Institutions hold coins securely, then the coins sit there. Earning onchain yield has meant new wallets, extra providers and machinery to coordinate centralized and onchain activity.
Upshift supplies the vault infrastructure and Kraken supplies the custody, liquidity, execution and financing around it. Clients deal with one relationship that spans 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. There are no separate wallets to set up and no new counterparties to onboard.
The position returns to custody
A receipt token representing the position returns to the client's segregated Kraken custody account. It is neither pooled nor rehypothecated, and it shows on the custody statement at redeemable underlying value.
You set what the vault can touch
The allocator picks which chains, tokens, protocols and contract functions their capital can reach. 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.
Custody balances now go to work
Allocators want a simple route onchain for the assets they already hold. Each vault is built around one client's strategy, asset mix, liquidity needs and risk parameters. Balances go to work without unwinding positions or leaving the platform.
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. One mandate can reach yield sources that would otherwise need two operating stacks.
Controls at four levels
The policy engine checks every transaction against the approved chains, protocols, tokens and functions. Anything outside the mandate reverts.
Professional managers run the strategies
Kraken and Upshift work with vetted asset management firms, known in the industry as vault curators, across DeFi, CeFi, PayFi and real-world-asset strategies.
One integration, 30+ chains
A client that starts in stablecoins and later wants BTC, or a second chain, gets another vault on the same integration.
Stablecoins first, then ETH and BTC
Kraken Institutional is the first major custodian to offer onchain vaults to its clients through Upshift.
Launch a vault with Upshift
Share your use case and the team will come back with a vault structure, a shortlist of managers and a timeline. Shipping Earn to end users instead? Read the Tria Earn case study.
FAQs
What is an Institutional Vault?
A permissioned vault built around one client's strategy, asset mix, liquidity needs and risk parameters. The vault contract holds the assets, a professional asset manager 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 redeemable underlying value.
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. 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?
Professional asset management firms, known in the industry as vault curators. Kraken and Upshift work with a vetted group spanning DeFi, CeFi, PayFi and real-world-asset strategies, with more to be announced. They 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. In the first conversation we go through the balances sitting idle, then agree the mandate and the manager.