US customers miss out as Kraken launches on-chain trading for international users

Kraken’s market for US equities is now live on-chain, with access to 60 US equities for international traders. The exchange has limited US persons from the tokenized securities. 

Kraken is offering a new market to trade tokenized shares by launching 60 US equities on-chain. The exchange will offer the new on-chain shares only to buyers outside the USA, with limited access for selected markets. 

Tokenized stocks are not available in Canada, Australia, the EU, the UK, and all generally prohibited regions.

The tokenized XStocks are created by BackedFi and are completely composable within the Web3 ecosystem, allowing for the usage of bots, AI trading, and other forms of transfers, swaps, or deposits.

The launch follows a previous partnership with BackedFi to launch tokenized stocks on Solana. XStocks finally came live with the first trades, which will also be available through the Bybit exchange.

BREAKING: Wall Street is officially onchain.
xStocks are now live on Kraken ❎

60 U.S. equities tokenized and tradable 24/5. More coming soon.

We’re not waiting for the future. We’re building it.👇https://t.co/iKu44ZiwZN

Not available in the U.S. or to U.S. persons. Geo… pic.twitter.com/FjOsxDJ9se

— Kraken Exchange (@krakenfx) June 30, 2025

XStocks will carry some of the top US tech stocks, including GOOG, NVDA, MSFT, and others. The tokenized stocks will be divisible, allowing investments with any amount of deposit, as low as $1. Stock trading will be accessible through fiat, crypto, or stablecoins. 

The biggest breakthrough for tokenized shares would be access to the entire Solana ecosystem, including DeFi lending. The XStocks tokens will be transferable and tradable, with no restrictions on being used in DeFi protocols.

Kamino Lend, the growing Solana lending platform, announced it would accept XStocks as collateral. 

Tokenized equities still wait for regulatory clearance in the US

Kraken and Coinbase already offer various forms of tokenized shares. Previously, smaller exchanges have offered stock trading, as tokenization has always been easy. 

However, those platforms still lack the permission to become official stock brokers for the US market. The relatively small platform Dinari is the first to secure a stock-trading license for its already circulating tokenized stocks on the Base chain. 

Gemini has also become a source of tokenized equities, with access for EU clients. However, Gemini retains a limited offering, tokenizing only Strategy (MSTR). Earlier this week, Ondo Finance also predicted the rest of the year would see more cases of stock tokenization, following the recent trend to offer mostly tokenized T-bills.  

Kraken may jump-start stock tokenization

Kraken’s offer is currently one of the widest on the market. Platforms are generally cautious when tokenizing shares, due to potential regulatory limitations. 

Globally, only around $651M in shares have been tokenized, lagging behind tokenized debt, bonds and even commodities. There is also no general standard on stock tokenization, with offers ranging from special tokens to common crypto assets only bearing the name of the stock. 

XStocks are backed 1:1 by the underlying asset, and can be transferred online. However, the Solana-based tokens themselves do not bring the same rights as ownership of the official shares. 

XStocks owners cannot vote or receive a dividend, essentially making the token issuer the official owner. However, for the purposes of globalized trading and investment, XStocks offers exposure to multiple US equities without additional regulatory burdens. 

Kraken and other tokenized stock issuers are tapping the trend of demand for US equities. The expansion of the tech sector, AI, and general economic recovery have driven international buyers to US shares. 

Foreign direct investments in US equities retained a long-running expansion trend for the past three years, based on demand for assets to compensate for inflation.

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