Venture
Kraken Acquires Backed Finance to Expand Tokenized Equities Offering
The acquisition aims to accelerate xStocks expansion, bringing tokenized U.S. equities and ETFs to a global audience.
December 2, 2025
Companies mentioned:
Kraken has agreed to acquire Backed Finance, a firm specializing in tokenizing real-world assets.
The deal will integrate Backed's 'xStocks' (tokenized equities) more tightly into Kraken's platform.
The acquisition is part of Kraken's strategy to expand its tokenization services and offer global users access to U.S. capital markets.
Kraken has announced its acquisition of Backed Finance AG, a firm that specializes in the tokenization of real-world assets. The move is a strategic effort to accelerate the expansion of xStocks, a framework for issuing tokenized equities.
xStocks, which launched earlier in 2025, allows users to gain exposure to over 60 major U.S. stocks and ETFs through 1:1 backed tokens. These assets are available on blockchains like Solana and Ethereum, with upcoming integrations on TON, Tron, Mantle, and BNB Chain. Traders can access them 24/5 on Kraken's platform or 24/7 directly on-chain, enabling self-custody and seamless composability across decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystems.
The platform has seen rapid growth, surpassing $10 billion in combined exchange and on-chain trading volume within six months of debut – a testament to surging demand for tokenized real-world assets (RWAs). By integrating Backed's team and infrastructure, Kraken aims to unify issuance, trading, and settlement processes, enhancing compliance, scalability, and global accessibility.
"This acquisition strengthens the core architecture required for open and programmable capital markets," said Arjun Sethi, Kraken Co-CEO. "Unifying issuance, trading, and settlement under one framework ensures the infrastructure for tokenized assets remains transparent, reliable, and globally accessible. This is foundational work for the next era of market structure – bigger than just U.S. equities exposure; it's about redefining asset ownership in the digital era."
Adam Levi, Co-Founder of Backed, added: "Backed's rise to becoming the industry standard for tokenized equities is a testament to unwavering focus, efficiency, and execution. With Kraken’s scale elevating that vision, we can accelerate the expansion of infrastructure designed to democratize financial access across the world."
The move builds on Kraken's recent acquisitions, including NinjaTrader, Breakout, and Small Exchange, as the exchange expands its vertically integrated offerings in custody, clearing, settlement, and multi-asset trading. Kraken plans deeper integration of xStocks into its products, such as the Krak global money app, where users could eventually hold and spend tokenized equities.
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