Grayscale Sees 3,000 Onchain Vaults With $7B+ as Next Crypto Breakout
Key TakeawaysGrayscale says 3,000+ onchain vaults hold $7B, positioning them as cryptos next TradFi product.Ethereum, Base, and Solana vaults could pressure the $1.5T CLO market with cheaper, transparent rails.Grayscale says adoption hinges on US rules as 57 curators manage 79% in stablecoin strategies. Grayscale Tracks $7B in Vaults as Wall Street Eyes Onchain Credit Stablecoins and tokenized assets have already begun reshaping traditional finance. Grayscale now expects onchain vaults to be the next crypto innovation to go mainstream. Vaults pool investor funds and deploy them across yield-producing strategies. Their investment rules vary. However, many operate within set risk limits and rely on professional managers, known as curators, to allocate capital. “Vaults are a vehicle for onchain asset management,” Zach Pandl, Grayscales head of research, wrote in a recent report. The structure bears a close resemblance to collateralized loan obligations (CLOs). Both products combine investor capital in managed portfolios that aim to generate risk-adjusted returns from underlying assets. Smart Contracts Replace Traditional Intermediaries The main difference is the infrastructure. Traditional CLOs rely on custodians, trustees and other intermediaries. Onchain vaults instead use smart contracts to manage assets and settle transactions directly on blockchain networks such as Ethereum, Base and Solana. That design can provide investors with real-time visibility into holdings