Key Highlights
- Kraken is acquiring Backed Finance to integrate tokenized stocks and ETFs into its platform.
- Backed’s xStocks tracks over 60 tokenized equities and ETFs, holding 23% of the market.
- This is Kraken’s fifth acquisition this year as it prepares to go public in 2026.
Crypto exchange Kraken is acquiring Swiss-based Backed Finance, a company that issues tokenized stocks and ETFs. Kraken announced the deal on Tuesday, stating it plans to bring Backed’s products fully into its own platform.
“While everyone is talking about tokenized equities, we are just doing it. We are focused on long-term investment, not hype,” said Co-CEO Arjun Sethi.
What Backed Finance brings to Kraken
Backed Finance creates digital tokens called xStocks. Each token is linked to a real stock or ETF, so when someone buys it, they are actually owning the real asset through a digital token. Kraken already lists some of Backed’s products, but owning the company lets Kraken make them work better with its own system.
“Integrating Backed into Kraken strengthens the core architecture required for open and programmable capital markets. Unifying issuance, trading and settlement under one framework ensures the infrastructure for tokenized assets remains transparent, reliable and globally accessible” Sethi added in the press release.
xStocks currently tracks more than 60 tokenized equities and ETFs. According to data from rwa.xyz, Backed is the second-largest platform for tokenized public stocks, holding roughly 23% of the market. Since its launch earlier in 2025, xStocks has issued over $170 million in stock tokens and recorded $2.3 billion of on-chain trading volume. Kraken intends to make xStocks available across multiple blockchains, including Solana and Ethereum, with upcoming integrations on TON, Tron, Mantle, and BNB Chain.
Kraken’s expansion and strategy
This is Kraken’s fifth purchase this year. Early this year, it bought NinjaTrader, Small Exchange, and Breakout. The exchange also recently raised $800 million in a funding round, which valued the company at $20 billion, and plans to go public in 2026.
Tokenized assets like xStocks are gaining popularity because they allow continuous trading, including nights and weekends, and can be used as collateral. Major firms, such as BlackRock, have launched tokenized funds worth billions of dollars, and other exchanges are following suit.
Backed Finance, founded in 2021, has quickly become a standard for tokenized equities. Adam Levi, Backed co-founder, said, “Founded in 2021, the team built a compliant and scalable solution that seamlessly bridges crypto and traditional finance. Today, with Kraken’s scale elevating that vision, we can accelerate the expansion of infrastructure designed to democratize financial access across the world.”
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