US crypto exchange Kraken has partnered with on-chain asset management platform Maple to launch a fully on-chain warehouse financing facility. The facility, denominated in USDC, allows Kraken’s institutional clients to borrow against their Bitcoin and Ethereum holdings, using a structure that mimics traditional asset-backed securities with bankruptcy-remote protections.
US cryptocurrency exchange Kraken has partnered with institutional on-chain asset management platform Maple to introduce a warehouse financing facility to the crypto lending market. This on-chain structure replicates traditional asset-backed securities markets to provide credit for crypto-backed loans.
The facility is denominated in USD Coin (USDC) and supports Kraken’s over-the-counter lending business. Institutional clients can now borrow against their Bitcoin and Ethereum holdings instead of selling their assets.
The transaction is built around a dedicated special-purpose vehicle designed to be bankruptcy-remote. Kraken affiliates will originate and service the loans, retaining the junior portion to absorb potential first losses.
This structure brings traditional finance credit protections into a fully on-chain environment. “The infrastructure that powers a multi-trillion-dollar ABS market in traditional finance has never existed on-chain, until now,” commented Maple CEO Sidney Powell in a joint statement.
Kraken Co-CEO Arjun Sethi noted growing client demand for traditional capital formation tools. The move follows other significant Kraken initiatives in the digital asset space.
The exchange recently partnered with Nasdaq to develop tokenized equities. This collaboration will see Kraken’s xStockz product power infrastructure for Nasdaq’s issuer-sponsored equity tokens.
Separately, Deutsche Börse acquired a $200 million stake in Kraken earlier this year. This investment placed the valuation of Kraken’s parent company at approximately $13.3 billion.
