Kraken has launched trading in more than 7,000 US-listed stocks for customers across the European Economic Area (EEA), expanding the crypto exchange’s offering beyond digital assets and derivatives. The company announced the launch on August 18, saying eligible EEA customers can trade US equities through its platform alongside more than 600 crypto assets and over 700 tokenized equity products known as xStocks.
Kraken said the stock-trading service is offered through Payward Europe Digital Solutions (CY) Limited, a Cyprus-based entity authorized by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) as a MiFID investment firm.
What Kraken Launched
The new service allows eligible EEA customers to trade more than 7,000 US-listed stocks through Kraken Pro and the main Kraken app. Kraken said the stock trades are commission-free, although spreads and foreign-exchange costs may apply. The launch gives Kraken customers access to traditional US-listed equities within a platform that also offers crypto and tokenized assets.
Kraken said it plans to expand the stock-trading service into additional markets in the coming months. The move forms part of the company’s broader expansion into equities, tokenized assets, and other financial products alongside its core crypto business.
Traditional Stocks and Tokenized Shares
A key feature of the launch is that traditional stocks and tokenized versions of some of the same assets can be accessed through the same Kraken account. Kraken’s xStocks are blockchain-based tokens designed to track the value of underlying equities. The company says the products are backed 1:1 by the corresponding shares and can be transferred to compatible wallets and used in on-chain applications.
Kraken also said xStocks can trade outside traditional US market hours, giving the tokenized products different trading characteristics from conventional equities. The company said xStocks have generated more than $38 billion in cumulative transaction volume since their launch in 2025.
Different Regulatory Structures
Despite offering access to similar underlying assets, traditional stocks and xStocks are structured differently. The traditional equities are offered through Kraken’s CySEC-authorized Cyprus entity under the EU’s MiFID framework.
The xStocks, meanwhile, are issued by Backed Assets (JE) Limited, a Jersey-based company, and offered through Payward Digital Solutions Ltd., which is licensed by the Bermuda Monetary Authority. Kraken’s disclosures state that xStocks are not registered with local securities regulators.
The distinction means that the two products should not be treated as legally identical simply because they reference the same underlying shares. Kraken also warns of risks associated with the tokenized format, including potential differences between an xStock’s price and that of the underlying asset.
The different structures are relevant as crypto platforms increasingly combine traditional financial instruments with blockchain-based versions of those assets.
Kraken’s Link to xStocks Issuer
Kraken also has a direct connection to the company behind xStocks. The exchange agreed in 2025 to acquire Backed Finance, the company behind the tokenized-equity infrastructure. The acquisition would give Kraken a closer relationship with the issuer of the xStocks available through its platform.
The development comes as other companies, including Ondo Finance and Robinhood, expand their own tokenized-equity offerings, increasing competition in the market for blockchain-based representations of traditional financial assets.
Crypto and Traditional Finance Converge
Kraken’s European stock launch adds another example of crypto-native platforms moving into traditional financial markets while retaining blockchain-based products on the same platform. For Kraken, the offering brings regulated US equities, crypto assets and tokenized stocks into a single trading environment.
The launch also highlights an important distinction within the broader convergence of crypto and traditional finance: access to the same underlying asset does not necessarily mean the financial instruments carry the same legal structure, regulatory status or trading characteristics.
Kraken did not disclose financial terms associated with the stock-trading launch. The company said the service will initially be available to eligible EEA customers, with further market expansion planned.
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