Karpatkey

KPK, formerly and also known as karpatkey, is an onchain asset management firm that manages capital for decentralised autonomous organisations, foundations and financial institutions. It was initially formed in 2020 to manage the Gnosis treasury and subsequently spun out into an independent manager, extending its services to protocols and DAOs including Aave, Balancer, CoW, ENS, Lido, Safe and the Ethereum Foundation.

The firm's product set spans three lines: bespoke treasury mandates for organisational capital, automated vault strategies that generate yield across established DeFi protocols within defined risk boundaries, and tokenised onchain funds that give diversified exposure across protocols and chains through a single passive structure. Its approach is non-custodial, so client organisations retain control of their assets, and combines risk frameworks, automation and policy-enforced execution with 24/7 monitoring and policy-first agents that execute onchain within predefined risk parameters. Engagements have also included support beyond asset allocation, such as business development, risk management, legal consulting and M&A, along with active participation in protocol governance on behalf of partners.

The company has announced plans to expand beyond DAOs to traditional financial institutions, beginning with actively managed open-ended funds offering exposure to blue-chip DeFi tokens and yield, and a DeFi exchange-traded fund aimed at institutional investors.

Founding story

Co-founder Marcelo Ruiz de Olano studied at ITBA, the University of Buenos Aires and UPC, and worked at Chevron building financial models for capital projects exceeding $100 million before leaving corporate life to travel and trade arbitrage in stocks, bonds and commodities. He encountered Ethereum during this period and later worked with OpenEthereum, the Ethereum Foundation and Gnosis on client diversity and network resilience. He co-founded karpatkey with a university friend, initially focused on security tools such as private key storage devices, before the firm moved into onchain treasury management. The entity was formed in 2020 to manage the Gnosis treasury.

Business model

KPK manages onchain capital on behalf of client organisations on a non-custodial basis, delivering bespoke treasury mandates, curated automated vault strategies and tokenised funds. Engagements are hands-on, with dedicated teams working alongside DAOs on treasury income, governance, partnerships, risk and related advisory work, and its yield products can run independently or power third-party applications.

Traction

Assets in the treasury network grew from $300 million to over $1.8 billion in under three years and were reported at over $2 billion in 2025; the company's site cites more than $8 billion deployed. Clients and partners include Aave, Balancer, CoW, ENS, Lido, Safe, Nexus Mutual, dYdX, Uniswap and the Ethereum Foundation. Over 10,000 onchain transactions have been executed for partners without incident.

Latest developments

In 2026 the company, operating as KPK, published an extension of its risk framework to real-world assets with Particula, a H1 2026 treasury review covering ENS, CoW DAO, Balancer, Nexus Mutual and dYdX, and monthly treasury reports. Its stated roadmap includes actively managed open-ended funds for institutional investors and a DeFi ETF.