Grayscale says onchain vaults could be crypto’s next mainstream breakthrough
Grayscale's researcher said vaults allow professional managers to pool investor capital into yield-generating portfolios through smart contracts, offering native blockchain settlement, transparency.
Onchain vaults are poised to become the next crypto product to enter traditional finance, following stablecoins, tokenized assets and perpetual futures, said Zach Pandl, Head of Research at Grayscale Investments, in a recent blog post.
According to Pandl, similar to collateralized loan obligations, vaults combine investor capital into actively managed portfolios that seek risk-adjusted returns, but operate entirely through smart contracts on public blockchains rather than custodians or trustees, enabling transparent and efficient onchain asset management.
The researcher estimated that the sector has grown to around $7 billion in assets across more than 3,000 vaults operated by 57 curators, with nearly four-fifths of assets concentrated in stablecoin strategies.
While significantly smaller than the $1.5 trillion CLO market, he said vaults are becoming a core building block for onchain credit markets. He noted, however, that US securities regulation remains the main obstacle to broader adoption, particularly for actively managed vaults.