Kraken users based in the EU can now gain access to tokenized U.S. stocks and ETFs on-chain through the release of xStocks. The offerings are powered by Backed.
- Kraken has expanded access to xStocks for traders based in the EU.
- EU investors will gain access to more than 60 U.S. tokenized stocks and ETFs.
Kraken’s EU-based clients can now trade tokenized U.S. stocks and Exchange Traded Funds or ETFs as part of the global phased roll-out of xStocks. The expansion builds upon a recent phased launch of over 60 tokenized assets available across more than 140 countries.
This means that EU investors will be able to trade stocks like Tesla, NVIDIA, Strategy, Circle, Google, Apple and more through the Kraken app.
Powered by Backed, xStocks are tokenized stocks on a blockchain that represent shares of traditional companies or ETFs. They are backed 1:1 by the underlying shares held by a custodian and designed to mirror the value of traditional stocks.
The on-chain product offers benefits like around-the-clock trading, global accessibility, fractional ownership, and integration with Decentralized Finance protocols, without the need for traditional brokerage account. In fact, EU traders can immediately access xStocks through the Kraken app.
Historically, traders in the EU attempting to gain exposure to U.S. markets often face hurdles that make it difficult to participate. With traditional markets, EU investors are have to deal with limited or partial exposure to U.S. markets, friction from currency rates and cross-border transfers. Moreover, they experience delays due to different market hours as well as difficulty withdrawing and transferring equities between platforms.
By placing U.S. stocks on-chain, Kraken hopes to remove those barriers by offering a flexible and globally accessible way to gain exposure to U.S markets. xStocks can track the price of U.S. equities without the need for traditional brokers or third parties. EU investors can trade in tokenized certificates, enabling them to control assets and move them freely across platforms.
In addition, traders in the EU can use xStocks across DeFi protocols in the form of financial building blocks. Unlike traditional markets that are restricted by the operational hours, xStocks are available for 24 hours within the five weekdays on Kraken.
Kraken’s xStocks offering
Initially, xStocks were first deployed as SPL tokens on the Solana blockchain. Now, Kraken claims that it has plans to expand xStocks token support to include BEP-20 on the Ethereum mainnet. Users will be granted the choice to either interact with xStocks through Solana (SOL) or Ethereum (ETH).
Overtime, Kraken plans to expand support for xStocks by integrating with more blockchains, including Ink and other chains in the future.
Kraken’s Global Head of Consumer, Mark Greenberg, called expanding access to xStocks for customers in the European Union as a “natural next step” for the platform because of its established presence there.
“For too long, it’s been unnecessarily challenging to gain exposure to U.S. markets, and with xStocks we’re removing many of the barriers,” said Greenberg.
According to data from Dune analytics, xStocks has reached more than $3.6 billion in cumulative trading volume since its launch on June 30 this year. This figure accounts for volumes across centralized and decentralized exchanges, including Raydium and Kraken.
So far, the largest share of volume comes from TSLAx, NVDAx, MSTRx and CRCLx, tracking tracking Tesla, NVIDIA and Circle stocks respectively.
Most recently, xStocks made up roughly 58% of all tokenized stock trading in mid-August this year. In fact, Solana alone held a majority share of the xStocks market value at $46 million out of $86 million, as reported by crypto.news.
