Kraken Pulls In $200 Million With App-Based DeFi Yield Bet
Kraken’s DeFi Earn product has passed 200 million dollars in deposits amid a rising demand for onchain yield that users can access from a regular exchange app. The program lets customers earn dollar-denominated returns on their balances without moving funds to external wallets or navigating DeFi protocols directly.
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According to Veda, Kraken DeFi Earn runs on three vaults provided by Veda. More than 40,000 users now use these vaults through the Kraken app to earn yield on cash and stablecoins. The product converts deposits into USDC and allocates them into onchain strategies, while users only see a simple earn interface inside Kraken.
Kraken Taps Veda’s Multichain Vault Infrastructure
Veda’s technology allows the vaults to connect to multiple DeFi protocols and blockchains. This structure aims to unlock higher yields than a single protocol can offer. It also helps Kraken adjust strategies over time without changing how the product looks or works for users.
In earlier DeFi cycles many products relied on rewards or airdrops to attract deposits. Kraken instead leans on its existing user base and an integrated experience. Users can opt into onchain yield from the same app they already use for trading and custody.
Veda (also known as Veda Labs or Veda Tech) is the DeFi vault infrastructure provider that powers Kraken's DeFi Earn product. They supply the underlying technology that manages deposits, strategy execution, and cross-chain operations for all three Kraken DeFi Earn vaults.
It provides multichain, multiprotocol vault infrastructure that enables Kraken to offer DeFi yields without requiring users to interact with blockchain wallets or manage complex DeFi protocols directly.
Kraken has been rolling out and refining DeFi Earn in the US, Canada and Europe, offering onchain yields through integrated vaults while keeping the user experience inside the familiar Kraken app, and pairing that with new security education around scams and safe usage.
Enabling Curated DeFi Strategies
The technology allows Kraken's vaults to operate on the Ink blockchain (Kraken's Ethereum L2) while simultaneously sourcing yield from protocols on both Ink and Ethereum. Veda's vaults are programmable and flexible, meaning they can support any blockchain, deposit asset, or DeFi protocol.
This allows vault curators (Chaos Labs and Sentora) to allocate deposits across multiple trusted protocols with precision to generate passive income for Kraken users. According to Sun Raghupathi, Veda Co-Founder, the partnership enables Kraken to deliver "a seamless experience" while tapping into onchain markets that offer higher variable APYs compared to traditional earning options.
Most recently, Kraken has been in the news for its IPO push, gaining direct Federal Reserve payments access as a crypto bank, and continuing to market and expand the DeFi Earn product that your Veda story plugs into. The IPO filing and Fed master account have sparked fresh scrutiny of how deeply a crypto-native institution should be integrated into core U.S. financial plumbing, but they also strengthen Kraken’s pitch as a regulated, bank-like venue rather than a pure-play exchange.