Kraken rolls out yield-bearing vaults for tokenized stocks on Ink and Solana
Kraken has launched three new xStocks vaults that pay estimated net yields of up to 2% on tokenized versions of Nvidia shares and two of the most heavily traded U.S.-listed exchange-traded funds. The product, announced on Sept. 14, lets eligible customers deposit SPYx, QQQx or NVDAx and receive rewards denominated in the same tokenized asset while keeping exposure to the underlying price.
SPYx tracks the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust, QQQx follows the Invesco QQQ Trust, and NVDAx provides tokenized exposure to Nvidia shares. Kraken’s product page displays an estimated net annual percentage yield of 2% for SPYx and QQQx and 1.8% for NVDAx during the initial launch period. The exchange charges a 25% performance fee on vault earnings, but the fee has already been deducted from the advertised APY, and deposits and withdrawals carry no additional platform or Ink network gas fees.
How the strategy works under the hood
After a customer deposits an eligible xStock, Kraken transfers the asset to an embedded self-custody wallet on Ink, its Ethereum layer-2 network. The token is wrapped for vault accounting and placed into infrastructure provided by Veda, before Sentora, which designed the strategy and acts as its risk manager, moves the wrapped asset across chains to Solana. There it enters the Kamino lending market as collateral for a stablecoin loan.
The borrowed stablecoins are then allocated to selected decentralized finance strategies that generate the vault’s return, as reported by The Defiant. Proceeds are converted back into whichever xStock the customer originally deposited and reinvested into the vault balance, so rewards compound continuously without users needing to claim or redeploy them manually.
The quoted rates are not fixed. Kraken says the APY is based on the previous seven days of performance and changes with stablecoin borrowing demand in the lending markets the strategy uses. Returns accrue in the same asset deposited, a design choice that keeps the position’s risk profile anchored to the tokenized security rather than to a separate reward token.
Leverage cuts both ways
Unlike simply holding an xStock, the vault uses the deposited token as collateral to borrow stablecoins. Kraken explicitly identifies the structure as leverage, which can amplify returns but also increases the position’s sensitivity to price moves and liquidity conditions. A steep decline in the value of SPYx, QQQx or NVDAx could force the strategy to close positions quickly, and heavy withdrawal demand could produce a similar outcome if collateral must be released while liquidity is limited.
Withdrawals are available at any time but are subject to a three-day waiting period before the xStock reaches the customer’s Kraken balance. During periods of high demand or market stress, Kraken warns that a shortage of immediately available liquidity could cause further delays. Losses from liquidation, bad debt or severe market moves would be shared proportionally among users of the affected vault.
The risk disclosure is blunt: customers may lose part or all of their initial deposit, and neither principal nor rewards are insured or guaranteed by any bank or government protection program. Smart contract failures remain a concern because the product depends on several on-chain protocols, and even audited contracts can contain bugs or suffer exploits. The cross-chain journey between Ink and Solana adds execution risk, since transfer delays could leave the vault exposed while market conditions change.
No shareholder rights, different tax treatment
Although the tokens track products traded in U.S. markets, Kraken states clearly that xStocks are not equivalent to shares held through a traditional brokerage. Token owners receive price exposure but no voting rights, no dividend rights and no legal claim against the company or fund represented by the token. The distinction extends to tax treatment, and Kraken advises customers to seek independent guidance about the tax consequences in their jurisdiction.
Customers also do not need to create an external wallet or store a mnemonic phrase. Kraken automatically generates the embedded wallet after the first DeFi Earn allocation, and users can export the private key through the Earn settings, although the exchange warns that the action is permanent and cannot be reversed.
Building on a growing tokenized equities franchise
The launch extends Kraken’s xStocks program, which entered the market in June 2025 with tokenized versions of U.S. shares and ETFs for eligible non-U.S. customers. In March, Kraken rolled out xChange, an on-chain trading engine supporting more than 70 tokenized equities across Ethereum and Solana. Company figures cited at the time showed 3.5 billion USD in on-chain volume, 25 billion USD in total trading volume and more than 80,000 holders, with each xStock described as fully collateralized by the corresponding security held in custody.
The vaults push the concept a step further, wrapping tokenized equities into a leveraged DeFi yield loop that spans two chains and multiple protocols. For context, Ethereum traded around 2,504 USD at press time, down about 1% on the day, while Bitcoin held near 77,288 USD and Solana changed hands around 100.80 USD, according to CoinGecko data.
The arrangement also puts distance between Kraken and the strategy itself. Kraken provides access to the product but says it does not manage the strategy or control the protocols receiving the assets: Sentora handles risk management while Veda administers the vault infrastructure. That division of responsibility, combined with the multi-step path from a Kraken account through an Ink wallet, a wrapped token, a Veda vault, a cross-chain bridge and a Solana lending market, means yield seekers are effectively underwriting an entire DeFi stack in exchange for a net 2% headline rate.
yield on tokenized stocks through a vault product, kraken keeps shipping faster than the regulators can blink
yield machine is a stretch for 2 percent but compared to a brokerage sweep account its not terrible
its the 25 percent performance fee that gets me. they advertise net apy but still, a quarter of your vault gains gone
the apy is advertised net of the fee tho. your real risk is the kamino strategy leg, not the 25 percent haircut
a quarter of vault gains for lending they would do anyway, brokers keep 100 percent of that spread on regular margin. wild deal when you lay it out
a quarter of gains on top of the wrapper spread. fee stack is doing more work than the 2 percent headline suggests
Where is the yield actually coming from though? Lending out my tokenized NVDA shares is the part nobody explains in the announcement.
the yield is securities lending on the underlying shares, same place brokers make their margin money. 2 percent sounds thin until you compare sweep accounts
this comparison needs to be higher up. my broker sweep pays pennies while lending out the same shares. 2 percent net with the fee already deducted is not nothing
tokenized Nvidia with yield attached sounds like the exact kind of product that gets a regulatory letter within a year
xstocks already trades under the eu prospectus regime. the letter comes or it doesnt, kraken sized that risk before shipping
xStocks already cleared approvals in parts of europe though, its not exactly a gray market product
european approval or not, a yield wrapper around tokenized equities is going to get a letter. ship first, ask regulators later is the whole kraken brand
kraken has been shipping first and negotiating with regulators after for a decade lol. xStocks clearing parts of europe suggests they learned which lines not to cross
rewards denominated in the same tokenized asset is a nice touch, no forced stablecoin conversion. keep the NVDAx exposure and the yield stacks on top