Kraken expands OTC lending via Maple’s onchain credit infrastructure

The Kraken crypto exchange and Maple Finance have launched an onchain warehouse lending facility that channels USDC liquidity from Maple’s collection of lenders to Kraken’s over-the-counter borrowers, applying the structural framework behind traditional asset-backed securities to crypto lending for the first time.

Lending facility details

Maple will provide the senior financing through a special purpose vehicle, with the arrangement working as an open credit line denominated in USDC where institutional borrowers on Kraken’s OTC desk can request for funds, pay outstandings, and get even more without renegotiating at every borrowing attempt. The borrowers must have a minimum request of $500,000 for every request, and must hold Pro-level verification on Kraken.

Kraken Financial, the crypto exchange’s Wyoming-chartered Special Purpose Depository Institution and regulated qualified custodian, is designated to hold collateral. Zaria, an independent SPV administrator will be the structure’s administrative agent, according to Kraken’s announcement.

Maple’s lenders will benefit by gaining exposure to great positions backed by BTC and ETH, with balances and loan details visible on-chain in real time.

What even is warehouse financing?

Warehouse financing is the credit model that underpins trillions of dollars in traditional securitized markets covering loans for automobiles, mortgages, and consumer credit. A lender offers a platform to an originator, who then draws on it to fund new loans and repays as borrowers settle their obligations.

Kraken and Maple claim this is the first time structural protections for lending have been delivered in a fully onchain environment.

“The infrastructure that powers a multi-trillion-dollar ABS market in traditional finance has never existed onchain, until now,” Sidney Powell, CEO and co-founder of Maple, said in the announcement. Kraken Co-CEO Arjun Sethi also stated that the facility lets “institutions and crypto holders access liquidity without selling their assets.”

Kraken’s interests in capital outsourcing

The model will give Kraken the capacity to organically increase its OTC loan book without putting more capital in.

This partnership also extends beyond just the lending facility. Maple deployed its yield-bearing syrupUSDC product within Kraken’s Ink layer-2 network earlier in May 2026, and Maple’s governance token SYRUP is listed on Kraken.

Institutional crypto lending hit a roadblock after Celsius, BlockFi, and Voyager collapsed in 2022. This has left borrowers with fewer interested parties and a deep distrust of crypto lending operations. Onchain lending structures like Maple’s, where loan positions, collateral ratios, and pool health are publicly verifiable, will help to address the transparency gap that characterized those failures.

Maple currently manages about $2.1 billion in TVL and has handled more than $17 billion in total loans.