Kraken has turned tokenized stocks into productive collateral. On September 14, the exchange launched xStocks vaults for SPYx, QQQx, and NVDAx. Holders can now deposit those tokens and earn yield denominated in the same asset. As a result, a SPYx position grows into more SPYx over time. Kamino, Veda, and Sentora built the underlying stack, while Chainlink handles cross-chain transfers and pricing. The launch arrives days after xStocks crossed $800 million in assets under management.
Your xStocks can now earn rewards. @xStocksFi Vaults are live on Kraken.
— Kraken (@krakenfx) September 14, 2026
Holding xStocks of the S&P500, Nasdaq-100, or NVIDIA? Deposit in a vault and earn up to 2% APY, while you stay fully invested.
Explore Vaults → https://t.co/bkLaKumVvX pic.twitter.com/mSxoTyoMXu
What the Vaults Actually Do
Tokenized equities have mostly sat idle since xStocks launched in June 2025. Holders could trade them around the clock, but the tokens generated nothing beyond price exposure. The new vaults change that. A client allocates SPYx, QQQx, or NVDAx from a Kraken balance into a vault. From there, the position keeps its full equity exposure while also collecting onchain lending yield. Importantly, rewards arrive in-kind rather than in a separate token. Kraken lists initial estimated APYs of 2% for SPYx and QQQx and 1.8% for NVDAx, net of fees. After launch, the rate becomes variable and displays as a trailing seven-day average.
Darius Tabatabai, Head of Kraken Pro, framed the product bluntly. “Every xStocks position sitting untouched is capital not working as hard as it should,” he said. Kraken already pays dividend yield on select xStocks, and the vaults stack lending returns on top.
Kamino is the leading credit venue for tokenized equities on Solana.
— Kamino (@kamino) September 14, 2026
On Solana, tokenized equities become more than assets you hold. They can serve as collateral, access credit, and generate yield while preserving exposure to the underlying asset.
With Kraken, Veda, Sentora,… https://t.co/nMPAFWoEsP
How Capital Moves From Kraken to Solana
The mechanics span two networks and four partners. First, Kraken creates a non-custodial embedded wallet for the user through Privy on the initial allocation. The xStocks then move into a Veda BoringVault on Ink, Kraken’s Ethereum Layer-2. Next, Chainlink CCIP bridges the tokens to Solana. Once there, Sentora deploys them as collateral in Kamino’s xStocks lending market. The strategy borrows stablecoins against that collateral and routes them into yield-generating positions. Finally, the strategy swaps returns back into the original xStock and compounds them inside the vault.
Users never touch any of this directly. Kraken charges no allocation, deallocation, or gas fees on Ink. However, withdrawals take three days because the strategy must unwind its lending position first. The minimum deposit sits at 0.001 of each asset.
Kamino’s Role as the Lending Layer
Kamino has supported tokenized equities as collateral since July 2025. Its xStocks market accepts eight assets, including SPYx, QQQx, NVDAx, TSLAx, and MSTRx, against stablecoin borrowing. Chainlink Data Streams supply the pricing, delivering sub-second latency plus a real-time market status feed. That matters because equities trade during fixed hours while crypto never closes. Consequently, Kamino applies a price band during weekends and after-hours periods. It only accepts prices within a set deviation from the last market close. Additionally, the protocol can respond automatically to trading halts through Chainlink’s staleness indicator.
Kamino’s numbers show the demand side already exists. Cumulative deposits into its xStocks market grew roughly 272% over a recent 90-day window, according to Onchain Times. Meanwhile, stablecoin utilization in that market ran between 75% and 86%. Borrowers want stablecoins against tokenized stocks, and that demand funds the vault yield.
Sentora Sets the Risk Limits
Sentora curates the strategy and manages risk, using the same framework it built for Kraken’s existing DeFi Earn vaults. Those stablecoin and Bitcoin vaults have already drawn more than $800 million in deposits. Anthony DeMartino, CEO of Sentora, explained the approach. The strategies lend assets into Kamino “with exposure limits set in advance and live risk models tracking collateral, liquidity and oracle conditions,” he said.
Still, the product carries real risk. Because the strategy borrows against the xStocks, a sharp drop in NVDAx could push collateral below required thresholds. Liquidation would then repay the debt at a loss. Kraken’s support documentation also lists smart contract failure, stablecoin depegs, and cross-chain execution delays. Deposits carry no insurance or guarantee. Kraken takes a 25% performance fee on earnings, though displayed APYs already reflect that cut.
Why This Launch Matters Now
xStocks has grown quickly. In March 2026, Kraken reported $25 billion in total transaction volume and more than 80,000 holders. By September 11, AUM passed $800 million across Solana and Ethereum, and Solana’s tokenized equity supply hit a $684 million record. Kraken has layered products onto that base in sequence: spot in 2025, perpetual futures in February 2026, margin in June, and now vaults.
Sun Raghupathi, CEO of Veda, described the shift. Tokenized equities have moved “beyond simply replicating traditional market exposure onchain, towards making those assets even more productive,” he said. Veda now manages more than $16 billion across vaults serving over 300,000 users. Notably, the vaults remain unavailable in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and the UAE. For eligible clients elsewhere, tokenized stocks now function like every other DeFi asset. They can earn while they sit.
