Kraken Vaults have crossed $500 million in total deposits, marking a fast scale-up for the exchange’s onchain yield product less than five months after its DeFi Earn rollout. The milestone fo
Kraken Vaults have crossed $500 million in total deposits, marking a fast scale-up for the exchange’s onchain yield product less than five months after its DeFi Earn rollout.
The milestone follows Kraken’s January launch of DeFi Earn, which gave users access to automated USDC lending vaults through a centralized exchange interface. Kraken later added Bitcoin Vault in May, extending the same model to BTC holders looking for Bitcoin-denominated rewards without manually moving assets through DeFi protocols.
Kraken’s vault products support USDC and select Bitcoin strategies, with advertised variable yields reaching up to 5.57% APY on DeFi Earn and up to 2.5% APY on Bitcoin Vault. The rates change with market conditions and borrower demand, and Kraken makes clear that APYs are not guaranteed.
The growth shows demand for simplified DeFi access at a time when users still want yield but may not want to manage bridges, wallets, approvals, gas, vault curators and protocol selection themselves. Kraken handles the user interface, while the vault infrastructure routes assets into onchain lending markets.
Kraken’s vaults are powered by Veda infrastructure, with strategy design and risk curation from Sentora. User deposits are allocated across lending markets including Aave, Morpho, Tydro and other supported protocols, depending on the selected vault and strategy.
For USDC vaults, deposited funds are moved into Veda vaults on Ink, where borrower demand generates interest that accrues back to depositors after fees. Kraken’s DeFi Earn page lists a 25% fee on rewards only, not principal, and says withdrawals are typically instant when vault liquidity is available.
Bitcoin Vault uses a more complex structure. Kraken’s Bitcoin Vault is powered by Veda, with Sentora handling strategy and risk curation across onchain lending routes. The product lets BTC holders keep price exposure while earning BTC-denominated rewards, with deposits and withdrawals handled through the Kraken/Krak interface rather than a self-directed DeFi wallet flow.
The BTC product launched after early stablecoin vault demand had already built a base. Kraken said Bitcoin Vault was designed for long-term BTC holders who wanted a simpler earning route on coins they already planned to hold, while maintaining access through Kraken’s consumer product rather than managing smart contracts directly.
Kraken’s DeFi Earn and Vault products are available in the United States excluding New York and Maine, Canada and the European Economic Area. Bitcoin Vault is available through the Krak app in the same broad regions, with no minimum deposit and withdrawals subject to vault strategy and network conditions.
The product is non-custodial at the vault-wallet level. Kraken support says Vaults use non-custodial wallets, which means only the user can transfer assets in or out. Kraken support cannot move funds on the user’s behalf if access is lost or transaction approval fails.
That structure is different from a traditional exchange earn account, but it does not remove DeFi risk. Vault users still face smart contract risk, market risk, liquidity delays, operational risk, protocol exposure and variable yields. Kraken also notes that Vaults are not regulated financial products and may not carry the same protections as traditional savings or deposit accounts.
The risk language will matter as the product grows. Centralized access makes DeFi lending easier to use, but the yield still comes from onchain markets and borrower activity rather than a guaranteed bank-style rate. During high utilization or market stress, withdrawals can slow if vault liquidity tightens.
Kraken Vaults now sit above $500 million in deposits across USDC and BTC strategies, with Veda infrastructure, Sentora-managed allocations and lending exposure across protocols such as Aave and Morpho. The next growth marker is whether deposits keep expanding after the early yield surge, especially as users compare variable DeFi returns with stablecoin rates, Bitcoin price exposure and withdrawal liquidity during volatile markets.
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