kpk Launches Its Governance Token, Opening a New Era for Governance, Participation, and Scalability

kpk, a top name in DeFi asset management, is officially introducing the KPK token to support updated governance model.

May 15th, 2025, Chainwire

kpk, a top-tier DeFi asset management organisation, is introducing the KPK token to support its updated governance model.

kpk, previously known as karpatkey and a leading figure in non-custodial DeFi asset management, today announces the official launch of its governance token, KPK. This milestone arrives as the organisation completes a key ambition that has guided progress since its founding, setting the stage for a new era of kpk’s governance, broader participation, and long-term scalability.

The token will serve as a new governance mechanism created to support the DAO. With a total supply of 1 billion KPK tokens, the launch marks the beginning of a more inclusive and dynamic decision-making framework, bringing together contributors, investors, and community members.

Bespoke, Decentralised, Autonomous

Founded in 2021 within the Gnosis ecosystem, kpk quickly became a trusted partner for onchain asset management with leading DAOs including Aave, Safe, Lido, Arbitrum, ENS, Balancer and CoW. Originally built with decentralisation in mind, the organisation’s growth—now cash flow positive and boasting over 50 contributors—has set the stage for a sustainable, community-driven governance structure.

“We’ve spent the last several years proving the strength of our model,” said Marcelo Ruiz de Olano, Co-Founder of kpk. “The launch of the KPK token is the culmination of all our efforts to establish our products, partners and reputation across the industry. With this new organisational structure and governance mechanism, we can better extend our services into traditional finance, bringing greater liquidity to DeFi.”

The KPK token will be the exclusive instrument for governance within the DAO. At launch, the token will have limited transferability, with no exchange listings. With the permission of the DAO foundation, investors could transfer token ownership to pre-approved third parties. The token has been distributed through internal channels such as contributor vesting, investor allocation, token swaps, and airdrops to key partners. Full token transferability will occur at a future date determined by the kpk DAO.

The kpk DAO Governance Forum will serve as the hub for community discussion. The forum is already live, including information about governance processes and templates for new proposals. Social and on-chain governance will be coordinated via Snapshot and Tally.

“From the beginning, active participation in DAO governance has been a core element of our approach to asset management,” said Alice Corsini, Governance Specialist at kpk. “Just as we seek to be active participants in the governance process for the DAO’s we serve, we also want our growing community of stakeholders to have a place in the governance of kpk.”

Token-for-Equity Strategy

Along with its rebrand from karpatkey to kpk, the organisation is accelerating its M&A activities, introducing a new investment strategy: token-for-equity swaps. By exchanging KPK tokens for ownership stakes in promising crypto companies, kpk is strengthening its network of partners and driving the next phase of growth for decentralised finance.

“We invest in established, long-standing partners who are leaders in their fields and essential to our mission of scaling DeFi,” added Marcelo Ruiz de Olano. “At the same time, we ensure they have meaningful ownership of KPK, reinforcing kpk’s position as the leading provider of onchain, non-custodial asset management solutions.”

The first of these transactions was completed with Hypernative, a leader in real-time Web3 monitoring and response. By swapping KPK tokens for Hypernative equity, kpk has created a long-term, aligned partnership.

Beyond Hypernative, kpk has stakes in early-stage projects like Lagoon Finance and Resolv, combining strategic KPK token deployments with selective cash investments. These moves reflect a broader expansion into crypto M&A, with plans to continue identifying and backing teams that align with kpk’s infrastructure and values.

With the DAO governance model now fully operational upon the KPK token launch, kpk is opening the doors to a new wave of contributors, community members, and strategic collaborators. The timeline for enabling token transferability and broader stakeholder participation will be determined by governance, after a checklist of operational milestones and external integrations is completed.

In the meantime, kpk is focused on ensuring a smooth, secure, and scalable expansion of its platform—maintaining its position at the forefront of DeFi treasury innovation.

Website: kpk.io

X: @kpk_io

About kpk

kpk (formerly karpatkey) is the leading provider of non-custodial DeFi treasury management solutions. The organisation has built a track record managing treasuries for top DeFi protocols with a commitment to transparency, sustainability, and onchain governance. The kpk DAO is focused on aligning stakeholders around a shared vision of decentralised financial stewardship.