Kraken brings DeFi yield to tokenized stocks and ETFs

Kraken has rolled out xStocks vaults that allow eligible customers to earn onchain returns by lending tokenized versions of major US equities and ETFs. The initial lineup includes tokenized shares of Nvidia and tokenized versions of the SPDR S&P 500 ETF and Invesco QQQ ETF, with returns produced by placing those assets into DeFi lending markets.

The new vaults are built on the same backbone as Kraken DeFi Earn, a program launched in January that the company says has drawn more than $800 million in deposits. Yield earned in the xStocks vaults is distributed in the same tokenized asset users deposit, and Kraken says withdrawal requests are handled within a three-day window.

Third-party infrastructure providers power the product: Veda underpins the vaults, while Sentora is responsible for designing and managing the lending strategies and for monitoring exposure limits, collateral, liquidity and oracle conditions. Assets from the vaults are lent into onchain markets such as Kamino on the Solana network.

Access to the xStocks vaults is limited by jurisdiction. Kraken made them available to eligible clients in the European Economic Area and other unspecified markets, while excluding users in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and the United Arab Emirates. The launch coincides with rapid growth in tokenized equities: RWA.xyz data show the distributed value of tokenized stocks and ETFs rose to about $2.84 billion from roughly $540 million a year earlier.