Kraken Makes Power Move: Acquires Backed Finance to Supercharge Tokenized Stocks & ETFs

Kraken just placed a massive bet on the future of finance—and it's not on another meme coin.

The crypto exchange heavyweight has snapped up Backed Finance, a Swiss-based issuer of tokenized real-world assets (RWAs). This isn't a minor partnership; it's a full-scale acquisition designed to bulldoze the wall between traditional securities and the blockchain.

What's the Play?

Kraken isn't just buying a company—it's buying a pipeline. Backed brings regulatory-approved, fully collateralized tokens representing blue-chip stocks and ETFs directly onto the blockchain. Think Tesla, Apple, or an S&P 500 ETF, but tradeable 24/7 on Kraken's platform alongside Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Why This Changes Everything

For years, 'tokenization' has been the finance industry's favorite buzzword with little to show for it—mostly talk from bankers who still fax documents. Kraken, by acquiring the issuer itself, cuts out the middleman. It bypasses the legacy custody and settlement rails, offering global investors direct access to traditional markets through a crypto-native interface. It turns a speculative concept into an operational reality.

The Bigger Picture

This move signals a strategic pivot. Exchanges are no longer content being side-shows for digital assets. They're building the infrastructure to absorb the entire traditional financial system. It’s a direct challenge to the old guard—an end-run around the slow, expensive machinery of conventional stock trading. One cynical take? It's about capturing the fees that currently line the pockets of traditional brokers and custodians.

Kraken isn't just expanding its product shelf. It's laying the tracks for a new financial rail system where every asset, old or new, is a token. The race to absorb Wall Street onto the blockchain just hit hyperdrive.

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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