Coinmerce Capital

Summary

Ketju does not approve Coinmerce Capital USDC under the class rule for protocols on unapproved chains: the vault runs only on HyperEVM, and Ketju does not approve Hyperliquid. Ketju found that Hyperliquid’s 21 permissioned validators also run its native bridge, and its core code is closed. The vault is an Upshift vault. A depositor sends USDC to the vault (0xcfe06d2499aE635830D11859941e76354D5717CC) and receives cnUSDC shares. The curator lends the money into HyperEVM lending markets and a trading venue through Upshift’s sub-accounts. Coinmerce Capital, a Dutch fund manager registered with the AFM, launched the vault in May 2026 with Clearstar Labs. On 2026-10-16 the vault held about $1.74M, in both the DefiLlama yield feed and DefiLlama’s protocol page. We made no finding on the curator. The facts below are for the review that would follow a change in the Hyperliquid verdict.

Review triggers
• Ketju’s Hyperliquid verdict changes to Approved or Approved with limits; the vault would then need a full review against the class rule for yield aggregators
• Coinmerce Capital launches a verifiable vault on an approved chain and sustains it above the size limit for 30 days

Ketju checks this memo every night and opens a review if its venues or files show a warning or a cited document changes. The first confirmation is due 2027-01-16.

Research

How it works

The vault follows Upshift’s share model. Deposits mint cnUSDC at the current ratio of assets to shares. The operator sends capital to the curator’s sub-account with depositToSubaccount(), and the curator deploys it within a whitelist. The net asset value reported back raises the share price. The vault is not ERC-4626. The yield feed reads getTotalAssets() and getSharePrice() and annualises the 30-day change in share price. That rate stood at 7.6% on 2026-10-16, while the 7-day figure was negative.

The return is lending interest from HyperEVM money markets plus whatever the Lighter position earns. Part of the book is swapped out of USDC into AUSD. Coinmerce’s launch post says the mandate also allows leveraged lending, HYPE basis trading, staking arbitrage and bridging to other EVM chains. The curator can therefore move the strategy beyond plain lending.

Size and holdings

On 2026-10-16 the Upshift exposure page showed about $1.74M across two sub-accounts. USDC was supplied to Morpho ($342,000 and $234,458), Euler ($173,380) and Lighter ($314,476, plus $93,416 of LIT). AUSD was supplied to Curvance ($402,555) and Morpho ($86,406). $12,963 sat idle.

Fees

The vault charges a 1.15% platform fee on assets and a 15% performance fee above the high watermark. It charges no withdrawal fee.

Who controls it

Coinmerce Capital says it co-curates the vault with Clearstar. Upshift’s vault data lists Clearstar Labs as the strategist and names the two sub-accounts: 0x0F76…C916, labelled Coinmerce Capital USDC Sub 1, and 0xA92d…6228, labelled Operator Wallet.

Upshift’s docs put vault ownership in a multisig shared by Upshift, the curator and any partner protocol; their example is 4-of-6. The multisig sets fees and limits and pauses deposits and withdrawals. It can call emergencyWithdraw() to sweep tokens to any destination it chooses. A separate operator wallet, which Upshift runs, updates total assets, moves money between vault and sub-account, and settles redemptions. Fee and withdrawal-period changes wait behind a 24-hour timelock, but the pause and emergency functions do not. Upshift does not publish the signers or threshold for this vault.

The curator holds a trader role on the sub-account and can only use whitelisted contracts and tokens. The docs say the curator cannot send funds to an outside address. Upshift computes net asset value from its integrations, and a maximum change setting caps each update. We did not verify the owner multisig, the whitelist or the Lighter position.

Coinmerce Capital began in 2017 as Icoinic. It is registered with the AFM, uses Fireblocks custody and NAV Fund Services as administrator for its funds, and says it manages over $60M. Those controls apply to its funds. The vault’s money sits in Upshift contracts.

Losses and incidents

Upshift lists eleven audits, from Zellic in 2022 to Halborn and Hacken in April 2026. It runs Hypernative monitoring, which can unwind positions on an alert. We found no incident or loss for the vault since DefiLlama listed it on 2026-07-20.

Withdrawals

A withdrawal on Upshift is a request that is paid later. The holder calls requestRedeem(), which burns the shares and books a claim for a later epoch. The vault page shows a 3-day withdrawal period. The curator unwinds positions, and the operator pulls money back with withdrawFromSubaccount() and settles the epoch in a batch. The holder then calls claim() for USDC.

An instantRedeem() function pays from a liquidity buffer, for a fee that the owner sets. On 2026-10-16 the buffer was about $13,000 of idle USDC against $1.74M of shares. The owner multisig can pause withdrawals at any time without a timelock. The USDC then sits on HyperEVM. To move it off the chain, the holder uses the Hyperliquid bridge, which the same 21 validators run. A client allocation would be large for a $1.74M vault with a third of its book on one trading venue.

Class rule

The class rule for protocols on unapproved chains covers protocols whose live yield venues settle only on a chain that Ketju has not approved or has not reviewed. Ketju did not approve Hyperliquid on 2026-07-31, because its 21 permissioned validators run both the chain and its bridge. A holder therefore takes bridge risk and chain risk as one. Ketju does not approve a protocol while its only reachable deployment depends on that chain. Every NAV update, redemption epoch and liquidation in the underlying lending markets depends on it, and a curator’s whitelist cannot remove that dependence.

A curated USDC vault on an approved chain could use the same share model and the same request-and-claim withdrawals, and Ketju could review it on a settled base. This vault offers no venue that an advisor can reach without Hyperliquid. Ketju will review it again only if the Hyperliquid verdict changes, or Coinmerce Capital launches a material vault on an approved chain. Either event would start a full review, which would weigh the vault against the class rule for yield aggregators. Neither would by itself approve the vault. The vault is also below the size limit for a full review.

Sources

Each claim above comes from one of these sources. Where Ketju could not verify a number, the memo states that.

• Upshift app, Coinmerce Capital USDC vault page · primary · accessed 2026-10-16
  Supports: vault address, cnUSDC receipt token, strategist Clearstar Labs, 3-day withdrawal period, 1.15% platform fee, 15% performance fee, no withdrawal fee, exposure by protocol, two sub-accounts
• Upshift public API, tokenized vault data · primary · accessed 2026-10-16
  Supports: Clearstar Labs strategist, sub-account addresses and labels, 30-day and 7-day rates, reported TVL
• Upshift docs, how Upshift works · primary · accessed 2026-10-16
  Supports: share model, curators deploy from sub-accounts, whitelisted protocols, redeem through the vault
• Upshift docs, for curators · primary · accessed 2026-10-16
  Supports: owner multisig shared by Upshift, curator, partner, 4-of-6 example, 24-hour timelock on fees and withdrawal period, operator wallet duties, curator trader role
• Upshift docs, accounting, fees and fund flows · primary · accessed 2026-10-16
  Supports: requestRedeem and claim, operator settles epochs, instant redeem from buffer, high watermark, max NAV change per cycle
• Upshift docs, risk framework and emergency · primary · accessed 2026-10-16
  Supports: non-custodial perimeter, Hypernative unwinds, owner multisig pause and emergencyWithdraw
• Upshift docs, key management and execution · primary · accessed 2026-10-16
  Supports: sub-account model, Upshift computes NAV, funds cannot leave to external wallets
• Upshift docs, multi-asset vault · primary · accessed 2026-10-16
  Supports: V2 vault custody models, swap and bridge modules, strategist trader role
• Upshift docs, vault contract interface · primary · accessed 2026-10-16
  Supports: requestRedeem, claim by epoch, instantRedeem, pauseDepositsAndWithdrawals, emergencyWithdraw, updateTotalAssets
• Upshift docs, audits and risk · primary · accessed 2026-10-16
  Supports: eleven audits 2022 to 2026, loss socialised after insurance pool and treasury
• Coinmerce Capital, launch of the Upshift vault · primary · accessed 2026-10-16
  Supports: co-curated with Clearstar, HyperEVM, leveraged lending and HYPE basis in mandate, over $60M managed, founded as a Dutch crypto fund
• Coinmerce Capital, safety · primary · accessed 2026-10-16
  Supports: AFM registration, Fireblocks custody, NAV Fund Services administrator, annual fund audit
• Coinmerce Capital, Yield Fund · primary · accessed 2026-10-16
  Supports: qualified investors, €100,000 minimum, weekly liquidity in the fund
• DefiLlama, Coinmerce Capital protocol page · secondary · accessed 2026-10-16
  Supports: current TVL, chain, category, listing date

The asset and the chain

This memo covers the protocol. A position also holds an asset and settles on a chain. Whichever of the three holds the most power over the position decides who can freeze it. These tables describe control and do not judge quality.