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Kraken is preparing to roll out tokenized U.S. stocks to clients outside the United States, as the crypto exchange broadens its focus beyond digital assets and edges closer to traditional financial territory.
The new service will be offered through a partnership with Backed, a recently launched firm, Kraken said in a statement. The tokens, which mirror publicly traded U.S. stocks, will be issued on the Solana blockchain, chosen for its speed and low transaction costs.
Tokenization refers to the process of converting real-world assets such as equities, real estate, or commodities into digital tokens that can be traded on blockchain platforms. By moving stocks onto a decentralized ledger, brokers can sidestep traditional market infrastructure, cutting costs, speeding up transactions, and opening access to a wider range of users.
“The whole point of crypto is transparency,” Kraken co-CEO Arjun Sethi said at Solana’s Accelerate event in New York on May 22. “It’s decentralized, it’s open-source, and you can build fast. There’s no reason why companies like ours can’t evolve with it.”
The move allows Kraken to compete not just with crypto-native players like Coinbase, but also with retail brokerages such as Robinhood, which already offer both crypto and equities under one roof. The no-fee app is reportedly in discussions with crypto firms Arbitrum and the Solana Foundation, both of which are vying to support the project.
Kraken began offering stock and ETF trading to a limited group of U.S. clients in April, including residents of New Jersey, Connecticut, and Wyoming.
This isn’t the first time a crypto exchange has experimented with tokenized equities. Binance launched a similar product in 2021 but pulled the plug amid regulatory pressure.
Kraken’s latest effort comes as interest in real-world asset (RWA) tokenization accelerates. The market has grown by more than 40% since the start of the year, with total capitalization reaching $22.7 billion as of May 20, according to data cited in the announcement. Tokenized stocks, however, remain a small fraction of that, with only $373 million in market cap.
Sethi said Kraken is developing modular infrastructure — described as a “set of microservices” — to support a wider product suite as it gears up for broader expansion.
Rivals are also moving in. Robinhood recently disclosed plans to build a blockchain platform for tokenized stocks, with an eye on giving European investors easier access to U.S. equities.
