Top U.S. crypto exchange Kraken has rolled out xStocks, a platform that enables users to trade tokenized stocks for top tech companies.
Kraken announced the rollout in a tweet on 30 June, saying users can access 60 tokenized U.S. equities which they can trade for five days in a week.
Wall Street onchain
This is the first time Kraken is bringing access to stocks for its users. According to the exchange, it is brining Wall Street onchain through tokenized stocks of these top tech companies.
Tokenization has become a major focus recently in the crypto industry. Its most common application is in the area of real world assets like lands and buildings.
Through the technology, many real world assets can be documented on the blockchain and held in the form of tokens. Kraken is applying the same technology to stocks.
With the new xStocks platform, traders can access the same assets they would otherwise have to go to mainstream exchanges to trade.
Also, they don’t need to buy the real stocks themselves, only the tokenized versions while benefiting from the gains of the real assets.
This is similar to investors who are wary of Bitcoin’s volatility investing in the asset through ETFs without directly buying it.
However, the service is currently not available in the U.S. and residents are barred from accessing the assets due to regulatory restrictions.
Kraken had in May announced the launch of xStocks on the Solana blockchain. The platform is expected to operate across chains, giving more users access to tokenized assets.
As Kraken has started this trend, it is likely that more crypto exchanges will follow suit. The exchange has also indicated interest in going public by 2026, although the leadership says the company is not in a hurry for the IPO.
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