Kraken Institutional taps Upshift to build vaults that earn yield on idle bitcoin, ETH and stablecoins

Onchain yield platform Upshift has partnered with Kraken Institutional to let eligible institutional clients earn yield on their idle bitcoin, ETH, stablecoins and other crypto assets directly inside Kraken's qualified custody, according to an announcement shared with The Block.As part of the partnership, Upshift will build dedicated vaults tailored to each client’s specific investment strategy, risk parameters, liquidity needs, and asset mix. The firms are working with a "vetted," though unnamed, "group of professional vault curators across a range of asset types and risk profiles," according to the announcement.Assets allocated to these non-custodial vaults will then be deployed into selected onchain contracts, with a receipt token returned to the client's segregated Kraken custody account. "Institutional controls and accounting are enforced at the vault, protocol, chain and token levels," the announcement reads.The move is part of a wave of innovation in so-called crypto vaults, or programmatic smart contracts that automatically deploy funds across DeFi protocols to generate yield following curated strategies.It also comes as crypto exchanges like Kraken and Coinbase continue to compete over their prime offerings, with the ability to earn yield on idle funds a core selling point. Custodians like BitGo and Anchorage are also beginning to experiment with onchain deployments using offchain, secured funds."Institutions increasingly want a single platform to safeguard their assets and make them productive, not a separate counterparty for every function," said Gregory Barasia, head of asset management at Kraken Institutional. "That is what Kraken Institutional is building.""Kraken pairs qualified custody with a full set of prime services, while Upshift provides the vault infrastructure to put assets to work," Upshift CEO Aya Kantorovich said in the release. "Together, clients can generate yield without spinning up new wallets, counterparties or protocols, while maintaining rigorous risk management built in."Institutional uptake of vaults has been limited to some extent by the fact that the largest vault providers, like Moprho and Yearn, pool users’ funds. Some providers, like MiCA-licensed Tesseract, have instead pursued the slightly less scalable strategy of designing distinct smart contract vaults for individual clients, a white-label model Kraken and Upshift are using ‘rather than generic shared pools.”In addition to enabling greater customization over security and risk concerns, bespoke vaults will also provide “proprietary opportunities in both private and liquid markets,” Barasia said.There are also some open questions regarding U.S. securities laws and vaults that pool investor funds, namely around the Howey Test.Upshift is a B2B infrastructure provider that can deploy vaults on dozens of chains and is one of the largest providers on Stellar and Solana. The startup raised a $10 million Series A led by Dragonfly in March 2025.Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures.© 2026 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.