Kraken to Offer Tokenized U.S. Stocks on Solana to Global Users

Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken is set to launch tokenized versions of U.S. stocks for users outside the United States.

Kraken is one of the largest centralized exchanges (CEXs), reporting $1.5 billion in revenue and $664 billion in trading volume in 2024, according to the company’s financials.

The new product, called xStocks, will allow 24/7 trading of equities like Apple, Tesla, and Nvidia on the Solana blockchain to “democratize access to equities on a global scale,” according to a blog post.

Kraken plans to offer over 50 tokenized stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs), including SPY and SPDR Gold Shares. Each token will be backed by an actual share, held by Backed Finance, and redeemable for cash, the post noted. Users will also be able to hold the tokens in digital wallets or use them as collateral for crypto trades.

Kraken says the aim is to provide more efficient access to U.S. equities by removing trading hour restrictions and high cross-border fees. Eventually, investors may be able to trade xStocks on other crypto platforms.

“Access to traditional U.S. equities remains slow, costly, and restricted. With xStocks, we’re using blockchain technology to deliver something better – open, instant, accessible, and borderless exposure to some of America’s most iconic companies. This is what the future of investing looks like,” said Mark Greenberg, Kraken’s Global Head of Consumer.

The service is expected to roll out in the coming weeks across Europe, Latin America, Africa, and Asia. However, it will not be available in the United States, likely due to regulatory restrictions.

Kraken’s latest announcement builds on its growing expansion into equities – in April, the exchange began offering trading for more than 11,000 U.S.-listed stocks and ETFs to U.S. users. It also plans to roll out the same service in the U.K., Europe, and Australia in the future.

The move by Kraken also comes as tokenized assets are one of the fastest-growing sectors in decentralized finance (DeFi).

According to data from RWA.xyz, the total on-chain value of tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) has surpassed $22 billion, a 3% increase over the past month and a 37% increase since January.