Kraken has partnered with Maple Finance to build an onchain warehouse facility designed to supply liquidity for its over-the-counter crypto lending business. The structure allows high-net-worth and institutional traders to borrow USDC by posting Bitcoin, Ether, and other digital assets as collateral.
The facility introduces a blockchain-based approach to credit structures long used in traditional finance, aiming to provide continuous liquidity through a legally separate funding vehicle.
How the structure works
Maple lenders will provide a revolving line of credit that feeds USDC to borrowers. The setup mirrors asset-backed securities frameworks commonly used for products like auto loans and mortgages.
Maple will extend senior financing through a bankruptcy-remote special purpose vehicle to isolate assets if operational issues arise. Kraken will originate and service the loans while also acting as a junior lender, taking initial losses before Maple’s lenders are exposed.
Zaria will act as the administrative agent, while Kraken Financial, a Wyoming-chartered special purpose depository institution, will custody the collateral backing the loans.
Focus on capital efficiency and transparency
The collaboration enables Kraken to expand its lending operations without fully deploying its balance sheet. At the same time, Maple’s lenders gain access to over-collateralized yield opportunities backed by Bitcoin and Ether.
The onchain design is intended to provide real-time visibility into balances and loan performance, addressing transparency concerns that have historically limited institutional participation in crypto credit markets.
Growing market for crypto-backed lending
The launch comes as demand for structured digital asset lending continues to rise. By the third quarter of 2025, the crypto-collateralized loan market had reached an estimated $73.59 billion, reflecting sustained appetite for credit tied to digital assets.
USDC, the primary lending currency in the facility, has a market capitalization of about $73.8 billion, providing a deep liquidity base. Borrowers can use Bitcoin and Ether as collateral while retaining exposure to those assets instead of selling them.
Strategic expansion amid evolving markets
Kraken has been expanding its lending offerings, including the rollout of its Flexline product earlier this year. The company’s parent, Payward, previously filed confidentially for a U.S. initial public offering and has raised $800 million at a $20 billion valuation from firms including Citadel, Jane Street, DRW Venture Capital, and Tribe Capital.
Maple, founded in 2019, operates an onchain asset management platform focused on institutional-grade lending. It connects capital providers with vetted borrowers and has seen total value locked on its platform rise to $3.9 billion.
Link to broader tokenization trend
The new facility also reflects a wider shift toward bringing traditional financial structures onchain. Tokenized real-world assets have surpassed $31 billion in value, though less than 10 percent is currently used in decentralized finance.
The adoption of warehouse-style financing for digital assets could provide a model for expanding liquidity across tokenized securities, private credit, and real estate, bridging conventional credit markets with blockchain-based infrastructure.
Explore how institutions bridge DeFi and traditional finance in our deep-dive on on‑chain private credit.
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