We’re excited to announce that following a comprehensive review, our qualified custody solution, Kraken Custody, has been approved by the Ethena Risk Committee (ERC) to support custody of backing assets for USDe.

The ERC is an independent committee elected by Ethena DAO governance tasked with assessing risk factors for the Ethena Protocol. The engagement reinforces Ethena’s focus on disciplined risk management and institutional-ready infrastructure.

Kraken Custody is a qualified digital asset custodian operated by our U.S. state-chartered bank. Built for sophisticated institutional clients, the platform supports active operational workflows while maintaining strong controls around transparency, asset segregation and security. 

Assets held on behalf of Ethena are maintained one-to-one in fully segregated, bankruptcy-remote, cold-storage vaults – aligned with institutional best practices for asset protection and operational resilience.

Gurpreet Oberoi, Head of Kraken Institutional: “This engagement reflects our ability to support complex institutional workflows with robust security and compliance standards. Kraken Custody brings together regulatory clarity, robust controls and deep operational expertise to support critical infrastructure for digital asset markets.”

Guy Young, Founder of Ethena: “For Ethena, custody is a core risk decision. Selecting Kraken Custody reinforces the Ethena Risk Committee’s commitment to scaling USDe on infrastructure built to meet institutional expectations. The depth of Kraken Custody’s regulatory framework, operational controls and security architecture closely aligns with how we define the stewardship of USDe’s backing assets.”

Kraken Custody security architecture incorporates multiple layers of protection, including hardware security modules (HSMs) and multi-party computation (MPC), supported by our in-house security teams. Kraken Custody supports a broad range of digital asset organizations, including publicly listed digital companies, venture firms, asset managers, hedge funds and investment funds. 

Beginning in January 2026, Kraken Custody will participate in Ethena’s ongoing transparency processes, including monthly custodian attestations and weekly Proof of Reserves reporting, supporting enhanced visibility into the backing of USDe.