TL;DR
- Institutional Kraken joined forces with Centrifuge bring real world assets (RWA) In qualified guardstarting with JAAA.
- JAAA East Janus Henderson flagship AAA CLO Strategyan investment-grade, yield-generating product now available in tokenized form through Centrifuge.
- Establishments can retain, earn and deploy RWA like active warranty within a sole custody relationshipusing them to borrow, exchange via Kraken Primeor deploy in a jump without moving assets or adding consideration.
- JAAA is the first RWA in Kraken Custody, with more tokenized assets to follow as Kraken and Centrifuge Partnership develops.
Real-world assets are now available in Kraken Custody. Institutions can hold tokenized TradFi assets, make money on them, and use them as active collateral, all under a single custodial relationship. JAAA, Janus Henderson’s AAA CLO strategy tokenized through Centrifuge, is the first.
What this means in practice
Holding a tokenized asset in qualified custody is different from holding it in a traditional account. He doesn’t stay there. It becomes productive.
A tokenized position held in Kraken Custody can be used as collateral to borrow or trade through Kraken Prime, deployed in a vault to generate additional yield, or held to earn the underlying fund’s returns, all without removing assets from custody or adding a new counterparty.
Settlement takes place 24/7, no TradFi market hours, no T+2 time lag.
Presentation of JAAA
JAAA is Janus Henderson’s flagship AAA CLO strategy: investment grade, yield-generating and now available in tokenized form as JAAA through Centrifuge.
Now, institutions that hold JAAA can profit from these assets. The tokenized version gives you the same exposure with additional utility: on-chain settlement, productive guarantee, crypto-native integration.
“Janus Henderson is committed to being the premier provider of institutional-grade tokenized products in DeFi,” said Nick Cherney, Chief Innovation Officer at Janus Henderson. “This vision can only be realized alongside partners like Kraken and Centrifuge, who are also committed to continuing to innovate and lead as financial services evolves more and more on-chain.”
Why centrifuge
Centrifuge is one of the first and largest platforms focused on tokenization. They are uniquely positioned to serve institutional clients with regulated fund services, while integrating into DeFi to make RWAs broadly compatible with the onchain ecosystem.
“Tokenization only matters if the assets can be used,” said Bhaji Illuminati, CEO of Centrifuge. “The integration of JAAA into Kraken Custody means that institutions can hold, earn and deploy tokenized assets in a single framework. This is a significant step towards integrating real-world assets into everyday capital markets infrastructure.”
Why it matters for institutional cash management
Institutions have traditionally had to choose between holding productive TradFi assets and participating in crypto markets. Qualified Custody RWAs remove this trade-off and are part of Kraken Institutional’s next generation of utilities for institutional clients.
“Integrating traditional financial instruments into the Kraken ecosystem is a key priority as traditional and next-generation financial systems continue to converge,” said Gregory Barasia, head of asset management at Kraken Institutional. “We look forward to expanding the range of traditional products available to institutions, providing them with more ways to expand access in a trusted and regulated framework.”
Institutional clients can now hold RWAs, earn the yield on them (and simultaneously borrow on them), trade through Prime or deploy them in a vault, without transferring assets or introducing a new counterparty relationship. A single custody relationship covers all of this.
What’s next for RWAs?
JAAA is the first RWA in Kraken QC, not the last. Our partnership with Centrifuge is permanent. Institutions can expect more tokenized assets to be deposited as we expand the range of RWA that institutions can hold, earn, and deploy. We are building a future where institutions can access the full range of TradFi and onchain assets under a single custody relationship.
Would you like to know more? Contact your RM or contact us today.
