Kraken has reached an agreement to acquire Backed Finance AG in a deal that significantly expands the cryptocurrency platform’s presence in the fast-growing market for tokenized real-world assets. The acquisition brings the issuer of xStocks, one of the industry’s most widely used tokenized equity frameworks, directly into Kraken’s ecosystem and positions the company to accelerate issuance, trading, and settlement across global markets.
The transaction advances Kraken’s long-term strategy to create open and programmable financial infrastructure by integrating tokenized asset capabilities into its vertically integrated stack. With Backed operating under Kraken’s umbrella, the company expects to deepen the reach of xStocks and support demand from institutions and global investors seeking continuous access to tokenized equities.
Backed launched xStocks earlier in 2025, and the product has already surpassed ten billion dollars in combined exchange and on-chain trading volume. Kraken’s acquisition provides Backed with capital, resources, and a unified strategic framework to scale issuance, expand compliance capabilities, and broaden the availability of tokenized equities across new markets and consumer applications. The companies expect the deal to strengthen interoperability across the xStocks Alliance, which includes blockchain foundations, exchanges, and application partners.
xStocks currently offers more than sixty tokenized equities and ETFs, all backed one-to-one by underlying assets and available on Solana and Ethereum, with expansion to TON, Tron, Mantle, and BNB Chain underway. The tokens can be traded around the clock on Kraken or directly on-chain, creating a seamless connection between cryptocurrency markets and traditional equities. They are designed for broad composability across multiple chains and can be self-custodied.
Kraken plans to integrate Backed’s team, technology, and compliance capabilities into its global operations. The company will also incorporate xStocks into its broader suite of products, including its global money app, enabling customers to hold and spend tokenized equities. The move follows Kraken’s earlier acquisitions of Breakout, Small Exchange, and NinjaTrader, which have expanded the firm’s vertically integrated trading, custody, settlement, and data capabilities. Kraken believes it is now positioned to support the rapid global growth of tokenized real-world assets on open and interoperable rails.
The acquisition also aligns with Kraken’s strategy to bring real-world assets on-chain, creating a capital markets infrastructure that is accessible globally. While xStocks are not registered under U.S. securities laws and are unavailable to U.S. persons, the companies aim to expand their footprint across global jurisdictions where the offering is permitted.
KEY QUOTES:
“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. This is foundational work for the next era of market structure.”
“This is bigger than giving people exposure to U.S. equities, it’s about redefining what it means to own assets in the digital era.”
Arjun Sethi, Co-CEO of Kraken
“Backed’s rise to becoming the industry standard for tokenized equities is a testament to unwavering focus, efficiency, and execution. 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.”
Adam Levi, Co-Founder of Backed
