Kraken and Maple close landmark onchain warehouse facility for digital asset-backed loans

Kraken and Maple have closed a new onchain warehouse facility for digital asset-backed loans, marking what is described as one of the first instances where the structural protections of institutional credit markets have been replicated in a fully onchain environment. The USDC-denominated facility will fund Kraken’s over-the-counter lending program, allowing clients to access liquidity without selling their crypto holdings.

Maple provides the senior financing through a dedicated bankruptcy-remote special purpose vehicle (SPV). Kraken affiliates act as originator, seller and servicer, retaining a position in the capital structure to align incentives. Kraken Financial, the Wyoming-chartered Special Purpose Depository Institution, holds the underlying collateral, while Zaria, an independent SPV administrator, serves as administrative agent.

The facility brings warehouse financing—a credit model long used in traditional markets for auto loans, mortgages, and consumer credit—onchain for the first time. For Kraken, it provides a scalable, capital-efficient credit line to grow its lending book without committing additional balance-sheet capital as the exchange expands its institutional product suite across the US, Europe, and Asia.

For Maple lenders, the facility opens access to senior, overcollateralized yield backed by Bitcoin and Ethereum collateral. Loan performance and collateral balances are verifiable onchain in real time, creating a new asset class within Maple’s earn product suite.

Sidney Powell, CEO and Co-Founder of Maple, said that the infrastructure powering the multi-trillion-dollar asset-backed securities market in traditional finance has never existed onchain until now. He noted that this facility applies that model to digital asset collateral with the structural protections institutions require.

Arjun Sethi, Co-CEO of Kraken, stated that clients want the same capital formation tools that have powered traditional credit markets for decades. The facility enables institutions and crypto holders to access liquidity without selling their assets, creating new ways for digital assets to be used within the financial system. The partners say the facility establishes a repeatable template for other originators, demonstrating that core protections such as bankruptcy remoteness, senior subordination, and independent administration can be delivered onchain.