Upshift on DeFi Drop

Guest: Aya Kantorovich, Co-Founder of Upshift
Host: Edward Ward, Portals.fi

This edition of the DeFi Drop features Aya Kantorovich, Co-Founder of Upshift, a platform creating institutional-grade yield strategies and delivering them on-chain. With vaults like Neutral K3 selling out in minutes and over $450M in TVL just months after launch, Upshift is redefining how structured yield products operate in DeFi.

“We’re seeing a shift in how asset issuers and protocols think, everyone wants to tokenize strategies. The future of yield is composable.” — Aya Kantorovich, Upshift

Structured Vaults, Built for Scale

Upshift’s core goal is to increase the return on every asset held on-chain. The platform builds vaults that apply tested financial techniques to DeFi primitives. These include basis trading, looping, and concentrated liquidity strategies.

One of the standout launches was Neutral K3, which filled $50M in just 16 minutes.

“It was fully organic. No private deals or backend allocations, just pure demand from the community.” — Aya Kantorovich, Upshift

August: The Infrastructure Layer

At the center of Upshift’s architecture is August, a non-custodial prime brokerage engine. August supports underwriting, lending, and trading through a secure multi-sig environment. It currently manages over $7B in monthly volume and offers a high standard of operational discipline.

“We’ve built a walled garden where traders can borrow, lend, and manage risk under strict controls and we’ve never had a liquidation in three years.” — Aya Kantorovich, Upshift

Verified Borrowers and Risk Controls

Upshift works only with KYC/KYB-verified borrowers. This structure creates stronger risk management and clearer accountability, offering a more secure framework for institutional capital to participate in DeFi.

“DeFi works, but only if you have proper risk controls. Our overcollateralized, verified borrower model is what makes this sustainable.” — Aya Kantorovich, Upshift

Vaults That Go Beyond Airdrops

Upshift partners with leading protocols like Resolv, Ethena, and Kelp to deploy vaults across ecosystems. These vaults are built to reflect real economic value and long-term utility, not just short-term incentives.

“Every vault we launch must connect to real yield on the other side, not just mercenary capital chasing airdrops.” — Aya Kantorovich, Upshift

Built on ERC-4626

All Upshift vaults follow the ERC-4626 standard, ensuring native compatibility with composable DeFi platforms such as Portals.fi, Morpho, and Pendle. This makes every strategy trackable, tradable, and integrable out of the box.

“ERC-4626 is battle-tested and integrated across the industry, it’s what lets us plug seamlessly into DeFi.” — Aya Kantorovich, Upshift

A Zero-Liquidation Record

Even through periods of high market volatility, Upshift has maintained a zero-liquidation track record. Conservative loan-to-value ratios and risk-managed vault design help protect capital and ensure durability.

“We might not always have the most aggressive LTVs, but our zero-liquidation record proves our model works.” — Aya Kantorovich, Upshift

Developer Tools and Real-Time Data

Upshift offers a growing API suite that provides access to vault performance, real-time yield data, and analytics. These tools are already used by DeFi-native builders and are expanding into Web2 brokerage and wallet applications.

“We’re seeing builders use our API to calculate exposures, manage collateral, and soon, power Web2 integrations.” — Aya Kantorovich, Upshift

What’s Next for Upshift

Aya shared a clear view of what’s ahead: broader tokenization of assets, increased demand for sustainable yield, and greater composability across chains. Upshift is now integrated across 23 blockchains and 80+ protocols, positioning it as a central hub in the next chapter of on-chain finance.

“EARN is back and it’s back at scale. The idea that your idle capital should earn yield is now mainstream.” — Aya Kantorovich, Upshift

About Upshift

Upshift is an institutional-grade yield platform for DeFi. It offers structured vaults built on ERC-4626, powered by August, a non-custodial prime brokerage infrastructure handling $7B in monthly volume. All vaults are backed by overcollateralized, verified borrowers and designed to generate real, sustainable yield. With integrations across 23 chains and a zero-liquidation history, Upshift provides the tools for protocols, institutions, and builders to access and compose yield strategies with confidence.

About Portals.fi

Portals.fi is the DeFi Super App. A one-click gateway to the on-chain economy. Powered by real-time data and seamless execution, Portals.fi connects traders to over 20 million assets, thousands of protocols, and every major blockchain.