#Kraken
39 articles tagged #Kraken — curated RWA tokenization coverage.
Tokenized Stock Holders Double to 1.31M as Monthly Volume Jumps 179%
The tokenized stock market is currently dominated by three major platforms, with Ondo leading at $872 million in distributed value, followed by Kraken's xStocks at $557.8 million and Binance's bStocks at $521.8 million. Binance's bStocks, launched in June 2026, has rapidly gained traction, narrowing the gap with Kraken to approximately $36 million. A significant surge in demand for pre-IPO exposure, particularly regarding SpaceX's June 12 public debut, drove widespread product launches across major exchanges including Coinbase, Bybit, and Bitget. While these platforms successfully attracted substantial capital, including a $557 million subscription campaign by Binance, the sector faced operational hurdles when xStocks failed to secure sufficient underlying shares. This shortfall forced Binance, Bybit, and Bitget Wallet to cancel their pre-IPO campaigns and issue customer refunds. Despite these setbacks, interest in SpaceX-linked products remains evident, with bStocks maintaining a distributed value of $67.9 million post-listing. This trend highlights both the high retail appetite for private-market assets and the logistical complexities inherent in scaling tokenized equity offerings.
Kraken Brings 7,000+ U.S. Stocks to Europe, Becomes First Crypto Platform Offering Traditional Shares and Tokenized Equities in One Account
Kraken has launched commission-free trading for over 7,000 U.S.-listed stocks and 700 tokenized xStocks for customers across the European Economic Area. This integration allows users to manage traditional equities and tokenized assets within a single regulated account under the MiFID II framework. By offering both traditional shares and 1:1 collateralized xStocks, Kraken aims to bridge the gap between traditional finance and crypto-native infrastructure. The platform, operated by Payward Europe Digital Solutions, distinguishes itself from competitors like Crypto.com and Bitpanda by providing a unified interface for both asset types. Tokenized equities currently represent 15% of the RWA market, with a total market capitalization of approximately $2.8 billion. Kraken, alongside Ondo Finance and Binance, controls 77% of this specific sector. This expansion signifies a major shift toward institutional-grade convergence, as trading activity on the platform increasingly pivots toward equity-based products despite a 13% year-over-year decline in total transaction volume.
24-Hour Trading on US Exchanges: What the SEC Roundtable Means for Tokenized Stocks
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has scheduled a roundtable for September 17, 2026, to discuss the operational and resilience requirements for implementing 24-hour trading across American equity markets. This initiative directly challenges the primary value proposition of tokenized stocks on platforms like Kraken and Binance, which currently offer continuous trading that traditional exchanges lack. While the SEC roundtable is not a formal vote, it signifies a major shift as traditional venues like Nasdaq and NYSE Arca have already received approval to extend their trading hours into night sessions. As traditional exchanges move toward near-continuous operation, the competitive edge of tokenized assets—specifically their ability to trade outside standard market hours—is being significantly compressed. Tokenized stocks, such as xStocks and bStocks, provide fractional ownership and on-chain settlement, but they rely on the issuer holding the underlying equity, meaning investors face issuer risk rather than direct shareholder rights. The speed at which traditional exchanges successfully implement these extended hours will determine how much of the 'time advantage' remains for crypto-native tokenized stock products. Ultimately, this transition forces investors to weigh the remaining benefits of tokenization, such as weekend access, against the inherent risks of holding derivative claims rather than direct equity.
XStocks leads tokenized stock issuers with $17M market cap growth in a single week
The tokenized equities sector has reached a total market capitalization of approximately $2.8 billion, with the Solana-based platform xStocks emerging as the fastest-growing issuer. Backed by Kraken’s parent company, Payward, xStocks added $17.3 million in market cap over a single week, significantly outpacing competitors like Ondo Finance and Superstate. Originally launched in June 2025, the platform has expanded its catalog to over 700 assets and reports $35 billion in cumulative transaction volume. The platform utilizes a 1:1 backing model where tokens are supported by actual shares held in regulated custody. By excluding US persons, xStocks navigates regulatory complexities while providing global investors with 24/7 access to US equity markets. The combined market share of top issuers, including xStocks, Ondo, and Binance’s bStocks, now accounts for roughly 77% of the total tokenized equities market. While this growth is notable, the sector remains a small fraction of the $50 trillion traditional US stock market, highlighting significant room for future expansion. This trend underscores the increasing institutional interest in bridging traditional brokerage compliance with the efficiency of blockchain rails.
Tokenized equities grow to $9B
Tokenized equity markets have experienced rapid expansion, with total volume surging from $1 billion in January to $9 billion by July. This growth is largely driven by investor demand for after-hours trading, which currently accounts for 55% of Jupiter’s total tokenized equity volume. The sector saw a 207% quarter-over-quarter increase in trading volume, signaling that on-chain platforms are becoming a viable alternative to traditional exchanges. This shift in market behavior is influencing legacy infrastructure, as evidenced by Nasdaq’s proposal to implement 23-hour trading sessions starting December 6th. Major platforms like Kraken are expanding access by offering over 700 tokenized equities to European Economic Area customers, further bridging the gap between traditional and digital assets. While Robinhood continues to offer stock tokens globally, the exclusion of U.S. customers has sparked debate regarding American competitiveness in financial innovation. Ultimately, the rise of tokenized equities demonstrates a clear market preference for continuous, globalized access to U.S. stocks that traditional market hours currently fail to provide.
Kraken launches US
Kraken has expanded its European Economic Area (EEA) service offering by enabling eligible customers to trade over 7,000 conventional US-listed stocks directly through its Kraken Pro platform and mobile app. This integration allows users to manage traditional equities alongside more than 600 crypto assets and over 700 xStocks, which are tokenized representations of publicly listed equities. Operating under its Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II (MiFID II) authorization, Kraken’s Cyprus-based entity, Payward Europe Digital Solutions, facilitates these commission-free trades. Since the launch of xStocks in 2025, the product has achieved over $38 billion in total transaction volume, signaling significant user demand for hybrid trading environments. Currently, xStocks holds approximately $609 million in market capitalization, positioning it as the second-largest tokenized stock issuer globally behind Ondo Finance. This development marks a strategic convergence of traditional finance and blockchain-based assets, providing a unified interface for diverse investment classes. By bridging the gap between conventional shares and tokenized versions, Kraken is positioning itself as a primary venue for institutional and retail investors seeking integrated asset management.
Kraken Partners With Nasdaq To Build Tokenized Equity Gateway
Kraken parent company Payward has entered a strategic partnership with Nasdaq to develop an equities transformation gateway designed to bridge regulated tokenized equity markets with permissionless blockchain networks. This infrastructure will leverage Kraken’s xStocks product, which has already facilitated over $25 billion in total transaction volume and currently supports more than 85,000 unique holders. The gateway aims to enable the movement of tokenized equities between permissioned environments and open on-chain ecosystems, with a planned launch in the first half of 2027. By utilizing xStocks as the underlying infrastructure, the initiative seeks to address the current fragmentation of liquidity by allowing equities to function as interoperable collateral across various trading and lending platforms. Payward will manage essential KYC and AML compliance while serving as the primary settlement layer for Nasdaq’s issuer-sponsored equity token design. This development represents a significant shift in market structure, moving away from siloed brokerage systems toward a unified margin framework. Ultimately, the project aims to enhance capital efficiency by enabling tokenized shares to be used natively within spot, derivatives, and financing markets.
4 Best Tokenized Stock Platforms for Global Users in 2026: Fees, Availability, and Trading Features
Tokenized stocks allow investors to gain exposure to publicly traded equities and ETFs through blockchain platforms without traditional brokerage accounts. Bitget and Kraken have emerged as leading platforms in this space, offering products like Bitget's rTokens and Kraken's xStocks that track the economic performance of US-listed assets. These tokens are typically backed 1:1 by underlying securities held in custody, providing a bridge between traditional finance and crypto ecosystems. Bitget, utilizing the Reality Protocol, offers over 500 tokenized assets with 24/7 trading capabilities, while Kraken allows for fractional ownership and on-chain withdrawals. Despite these benefits, these tokens do not grant users direct shareholder rights, such as voting, and carry counterparty risks related to the issuer and custodian. The market for these assets is expanding as platforms integrate them into broader crypto services like margin trading and automated strategies. This evolution matters for the RWA market because it demonstrates how institutional-grade assets can be made accessible to global crypto users through continuous, fractionalized, and stablecoin-denominated trading environments.
$23 Billion in One Month: The Madness of Tokenized Stocks Takes Over Crypto
The tokenized stock market has experienced significant growth over the past month, characterized by a 179% surge in monthly transfer volume to $23.13 billion. Data from RWA.xyz indicates that the number of holders reached 1.31 million, while monthly active addresses rose by 34.62% to approximately 572,000. Distributed value across the sector grew by 5.9% to reach $2.38 billion, signaling increased investor engagement with blockchain-represented securities. Ondo currently leads the market with $872 million in distributed value, followed by Kraken’s xStocks at $557.8 million and Binance’s bStocks at $521.8 million. This competitive landscape is further populated by players like Securitize and various platforms offering pre-IPO exposure to companies like SpaceX. The rapid expansion reflects a broader trend in the tokenization of real-world assets, which Standard Chartered projects could reach a $4 trillion valuation by 2028. This momentum highlights the increasing integration of traditional financial instruments into decentralized ecosystems. The sustained growth of these platforms will be critical in determining the long-term viability of tokenized equities as a mainstream asset class.
Binance shakes up Kraken and seizes 2nd place worldwide in tokenized stocks
Binance has secured the second position in the tokenized stocks market, reaching a value of approximately 610.6 million dollars for its bStocks product. This milestone, achieved less than two months after the June 11 launch, allowed Binance to surpass Kraken’s xStocks, which currently holds 601.2 million dollars. Ondo Finance continues to lead the sector with a significant margin, maintaining a value of approximately 927 million dollars. The rapid growth of Binance's offering is largely attributed to its existing massive user base, which facilitates immediate product adoption. This shift occurs within a broader market expansion, as the total value of tokenized stocks tracked by Token Terminal has surged from 80 million dollars a year ago to 2.7 billion dollars today. The sector's momentum is further evidenced by a 105% monthly increase in transfer volumes, reaching 8.41 billion dollars in July. This competitive landscape highlights the increasing institutional and exchange-level focus on bringing traditional securities onto the blockchain to enhance accessibility and trading efficiency.
SODA Now Trading on Kraken Worldwide as SODAX Clears MiCA Compliance in the EU
The SODAX cross-network execution infrastructure has officially launched its SODA token on the Kraken exchange, following a 1:1 migration from the legacy ICX token. Trading is now live on Kraken across the Sonic and Arbitrum networks, with support for USD and EUR pairs. This listing coincides with SODAX securing MiCA-compliant status in the European Union, evidenced by a whitepaper notified to the Central Bank of Ireland. SODAX functions as a liquidity and execution layer that enables cross-chain transactions across 20 networks, including Bitcoin and Ethereum, without requiring traditional bridges. The SODA token serves as the governance and fee-accrual asset for this system, featuring a capped supply of 1.5 billion and a deflationary model driven by programmatic buy-backs. By aligning its infrastructure with European regulatory standards, SODAX aims to position itself as a compliant, institutional-grade solution for cross-chain liquidity. This development highlights the growing trend of infrastructure protocols seeking regulatory clarity to facilitate broader adoption in the evolving digital asset market.
Tokenized stock holders more than double as monthly volume surges
The market for tokenized equities has experienced significant expansion, with the number of holders doubling to 1.31 million over the past month according to RWA.xyz data. Monthly transfer volume saw a substantial surge of 179%, reaching $23.13 billion, while monthly active addresses grew by 34.62% to approximately 572,000. Total distributed value across the sector rose by 5.9% to $2.38 billion, highlighting increasing investor appetite for on-chain equity exposure. Ondo currently leads the market with $872 million in distributed value, followed closely by Kraken’s xStocks and Binance’s bStocks. The growth is partly attributed to platforms offering tokenized pre-IPO exposure to companies like SpaceX, which drove significant activity earlier this year. This upward trend aligns with broader industry forecasts, such as Standard Chartered’s projection that the RWA market could reach $4 trillion by 2028. The rapid adoption of these products demonstrates a maturing ecosystem where traditional financial assets are increasingly integrated into blockchain infrastructure.
Shifting Risks in Onchain Vaults: Key Management Takes Center Stage
Veda CEO Sun Raghupathi argues that the primary security risk for onchain vaults has shifted from smart contract vulnerabilities to human-centric key management. As smart contract auditing becomes standardized, the industry must prioritize the security of private keys and operational processes to prevent high-profile breaches. Veda has processed over $16 billion in transfers through its vault framework, maintaining a record free of smart contract security incidents. The company provides infrastructure that embeds compliance and risk controls directly into yield products for institutional clients. Kraken utilizes Veda's infrastructure for its Earn vaults, which have successfully attracted over $600 million in total deposits. These vaults have experienced significant growth, recording more than $100 million in new inflows since mid-2025. This trend highlights the increasing institutional demand for secure, compliant onchain yield solutions that mitigate risks associated with administrative key control.
Kraken parent Payward shifts position on tokenized equities and voting rights
Kraken parent company Payward has updated its stance on tokenized equities, specifically addressing the complexities of voting rights within blockchain-based securities. The firm acknowledges that while tokenization offers significant efficiency gains for traditional assets, the integration of corporate governance mechanisms like proxy voting remains a technical and regulatory hurdle. By refining its position, Payward aims to align its infrastructure with the evolving requirements of institutional investors who demand both liquidity and shareholder participation. This shift reflects a broader industry trend where major crypto-native entities are moving beyond simple asset issuance to solve the structural challenges of on-chain equity management. As tokenized stocks gain traction, the ability to programmatically handle voting rights will be a critical differentiator for platforms seeking to bridge the gap between decentralized finance and traditional capital markets. This development underscores the ongoing maturation of the RWA sector as it transitions from experimental pilots to robust, compliant financial infrastructure. Ultimately, Payward's strategic pivot highlights the necessity of standardized frameworks for managing ownership rights in a digital-first ecosystem.
Solana’s Next Big Fight: Winning the Race for Tokenized Stocks and Perpetual Futures
Kraken has officially launched xStocks, a new product offering tokenized U.S. equities that are backed 1:1 by the underlying assets. This initiative allows institutional partners to integrate spot and futures trading of these tokenized stocks directly into their platforms via APIs. By bridging traditional equity markets with blockchain infrastructure, Kraken aims to satisfy growing investor demand for diversified asset classes beyond standard cryptocurrencies. The move reflects a broader industry trend where major exchanges are expanding their product suites to include regulated real-world assets. While the market for tokenized stocks remains in its early stages, such offerings provide a pathway for increased liquidity and accessibility for global traders. This development highlights the ongoing convergence between centralized exchange infrastructure and the tokenization of traditional financial instruments. As Kraken positions xStocks as a core asset class, it underscores the strategic importance of offering regulated, asset-backed tokens to maintain competitive relevance in the evolving digital finance landscape.
Kraken Parent Takes Tokenized Stocks Beyond US Markets
Payward, the parent company of Kraken, is expanding its xStocks tokenized equity platform beyond U.S. markets through a new partnership with investment infrastructure provider GTN. The initiative aims to introduce Hong Kong-listed shares, with potential future expansion into British, European, and South Korean equities. The xStocks framework currently offers over 500 securities and has processed more than $35 billion in volume, serving nearly 200,000 holders. By leveraging GTN’s access to over 90 global markets, Payward intends to bring international capital markets on-chain to facilitate faster settlement and 24/7 trading. This move reflects a broader industry trend where crypto firms and traditional financial institutions are racing to tokenize global equities. While the platform currently relies on third-party issuers to hold underlying assets, the expansion highlights the growing demand for blockchain-based access to international stocks, particularly those in the AI supply chain. Each market entry remains subject to local regulatory approvals, marking a significant step in the institutionalization of tokenized securities.
Kraken opens Jersey Mike’s IPO to retail investors through tokenized shares and direct allocations
Kraken has launched a new initiative allowing retail investors to access the Jersey Mike’s initial public offering through both direct allocations and tokenized shares. Eligible US customers can request book-entry shares at the IPO price, while users in over 110 countries can access JMKEx, a tokenized version of the stock backed 1:1 by underlying assets held in regulated custody. Once the IPO concludes, JMKEx will trade 24/7 on Kraken and xStocks Alliance platforms, while the underlying shares follow standard New York Stock Exchange hours. This integration allows tokenized equities to be moved onchain and utilized within decentralized finance applications, bridging traditional brokerage access with blockchain utility. Jersey Mike’s expects to price its Class A shares between $21 and $25 under the ticker JMKE. This move follows Kraken’s previous tokenized offering for SpaceX, highlighting a broader trend in the RWA sector where distributed value has grown to approximately $1.87 billion. The expansion of tokenized equities demonstrates a significant shift in how retail investors interact with public market debuts through digital asset infrastructure.
Is Nasdaq's Partnership with Kraken a Game-Changer for Tokenized Stocks - Kavout
Nasdaq, Inc. has announced a strategic partnership with Kraken to develop and distribute tokenized equities, with a planned launch in the first half of 2027. This initiative leverages Kraken’s xStocks framework to provide international investors with one-to-one tokenized versions of public company shares, ensuring full legal and regulatory equivalence to traditional holdings. The collaboration aims to modernize financial processes such as proxy voting and shareholder engagement by embedding programmable features directly into the assets. By utilizing Kraken’s existing infrastructure, which has already processed over $20 billion in cumulative trading volume since June 2025, the partnership seeks to bridge the gap between traditional capital markets and decentralized finance. This move builds upon Nasdaq’s previous SEC proposals to integrate tokenized assets with Depository Trust infrastructure. The project is designed to operate within regulated frameworks, utilizing Alpaca for brokerage and custody services while maintaining strict KYC and AML compliance. This institutional endorsement is significant as the global RWA market is projected to reach $9.43 trillion by 2030, driven by increased demand for fractional ownership and enhanced market efficiency.