Maple and Kraken test a new model for crypto credit

Crypto lenders are trying to rebuild trust with a structure that looks more like Wall Street credit than the loose balance-sheet lending that broke in 2022. For investors, the shift matters because it could decide whether institutional money returns to crypto-backed lending at scale.

The reset follows the failures of Celsius, Genesis, BlockFi, and Voyager, which together once made up 40% of the crypto lending market and 82% of CeFi lending at their peak, according to Galaxy. Their collapse exposed two problems at once: weak underwriting and poor visibility into where risk actually sat.

Maple and Kraken are now testing a warehouse facility funded in USDC. Maple lenders provide senior capital, while Kraken affiliates originate, sell, and service loans and keep junior exposure, so Kraken takes losses before senior lenders do. The loans are backed by BTC and ETH, with Kraken Financial holding collateral as a regulated custodian and Zaria administering the SPV. Kraken says balances and loan performance can be checked on-chain in real time.

The model does not remove risk. It shifts the pressure point to collateral volatility, margin calls, liquidation speed, custody response, and the legal strength of the bankruptcy-remote structure. That test comes at a meaningful scale: RWA.xyz puts tokenized credit at $5.73 billion, with Maple holding about $1.4 billion, while Galaxy tracked $67.42 billion in total crypto-collateralized lending in the first quarter of 2026.