On-chain asset management is having a strong year, with assets under management (AUM) more than doubling in 2025, according to a new report from investment firm Keyrock and on-chain asset manager Maple Finance.
The report found that total AUM across automated yield strategies, discretionary strategies, structured products, and on-chain credit surged 118% to $35 billion so far this year.
Three protocols – Morpho, Pendle, and Maple itself – account for 31% of the total. Morpho boasts a total value locked (TVL) on-chain of $7.14 billion, while Pendle has a TVL of $8.3 billion, and Maple’s TVL stands at $2.7 billion, per DefiLlama data.
Most depositors are small investors, referred to as “shrimps,” who hold less than $10,000 in on-chain protocols. However, the majority of capital comes from larger investors – “dolphins” (more than $100,000) and “whales” (more than $1 million) – who provide 70-99% of total on-chain AUM.
Moreover, the report identified automated yield as the primary entry point for allocators, marking the largest share of AUM at $18 billion.
On-Chain vs. TradFi
The findings show that on-chain strategies are no longer experimental. Instead, they deliver competitive returns and are often more transparent and accessible than traditional financial products.
However, the findings did highlight several risks for on-chain strategies, including smart contract exploits, limited market capacity, and variable returns.
“The evolution of on-chain asset management in 2025 has demonstrated that on-chain strategies are a viable, scalable component of the global financial landscape,” the report reads.
“Onchain asset management is the blueprint for the next generation of capital markets, in that it is programmable, transparent, and composable by default.”
Specifically, automated yield vaults are outperforming traditional passive investments by about 186bps after fees, the report notes. Meanwhile, discretionary strategies deliver returns similar to TradFi.
Structured products and on-chain credit earn slightly less after fees but still perform well, with structured products at 10.3% APY, discretionary strategies at 9.7% APY, automated strategies 8%, and on-chain credit 7.5%.
Growth is Coming
Looking ahead, the report’s authors say the next phase of on-chain asset management will be shaped by the “interplay between innovation, composability, and institutional adoption.”
They project that AUM could grow from $35 billion to $64 billion in the coming cycle and eventually become “embedded infrastructure for global allocators,” as driven by stronger governance, deeper liquidity, and a rising number of institutional investors.
Keyrock is a global crypto investment firm specializing in market making, OTC, and options trading, while Maple is an on-chain asset manager with $4 billion in AUM.
Last week, Maple’s $200 million pre-deposit vault for its syrupUSD on stablecoin blockchain Plasma, which just launched its mainnet beta today, filled nearly instantly.