Kraken Acquires Backed Finance to Expand Tokenized Stock Trading

TLDR

• Kraken acquired Backed Finance AG, the company behind xStocks tokenized equities platform
• xStocks offers over 60 tokenized stocks and ETFs with $10 billion in combined volume since launch
• The platform operates on Solana and Ethereum blockchains with 24/7 trading available
• This is Kraken’s fourth acquisition in 2025 after buying NinjaTrader, Breakout, and Small Exchange
• Kraken submitted confidential IPO filing in November and plans to integrate xStocks into its global money app

US crypto exchange Kraken announced on Tuesday it will acquire Backed Finance AG, the company that operates the xStocks tokenized equities platform. The deal brings the stock tokenization service fully under Kraken’s control as the exchange continues its buying spree in 2025.

Backed Finance operates xStocks, a platform that creates digital tokens representing ownership of publicly traded stocks and exchange-traded funds. The platform currently offers more than 60 tokenized products to users. Since launching earlier this year, xStocks has recorded over $10 billion in combined exchange and onchain trading volume.

The tokenized stocks trade on the Solana and Ethereum blockchains. Users can trade these assets 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The tokens can be stored in personal wallets and moved across different blockchain networks.

Kraken first rolled out the xStocks product to eligible European users in September. The exchange now plans to integrate the platform more deeply into its services. This includes adding xStocks to its global money app and expanding support to more blockchains and markets.

The companies did not reveal the financial terms of the acquisition. Kraken co-CEO Arjun Sethi said the deal unifies issuance, trading and settlement under one framework. He described the move as foundational work for the next era of market structure.

Kraken’s Acquisition Strategy

This marks Kraken’s fourth acquisition in 2025. In May, the exchange bought NinjaTrader for $1.5 billion. The company followed up by acquiring proprietary trading platform Breakout in September and Small Exchange, a designated contract market, in October.

Kraken submitted a confidential IPO filing with US regulators in November. The exchange appears to be positioning itself as an institutional-grade trading platform. Sethi previously stated the company aims to create a platform where any asset can be traded at any time.

Kraken also runs the xStocks Alliance, a network of partnered blockchains and trading venues. The company said the acquisition will consolidate this network and support broader interoperability as more markets adopt tokenized equities.

Growing Market for Tokenized Stocks

The tokenized equities market has grown throughout 2024. In June, xStocks launched on multiple platforms including Bybit and several Solana-based DeFi services. The initial lineup included tokenized versions of major companies like Netflix, Meta, Coinbase, Amazon, Nvidia, McDonald’s, Apple, Tesla and Microsoft.

Robinhood entered the space in June by launching a layer-2 blockchain on Arbitrum. The platform introduced tokenized stock trading for European Union users with more than 200 US stock and ETF tokens. Trading operates 24 hours a day, five days a week with no commission fees.

Data from Dune Analytics shows Robinhood now has 943 tokenized stocks and ETFs live on Arbitrum. The total onchain value stands at about $10.8 million.

RWA.xyz tracks approximately $656 million in regulated tokenized public stocks across the market. The sector sees about $1.14 billion in monthly transfer volume with around 118,000 holders. Ondo holds about 52% of the regulated issuer market, followed by Backed Finance at 24% and Securitize at 20%.

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