For European investors, a fresh opportunity has arrived to dive into the U.S. stock market. Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken has now made its special “xStocks” available across the European Union. This means people can trade more than 50 well-known American stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) around the clock, seven days a week. The best part? They can do it without needing old-fashioned stockbrokers.
These xStocks are digital versions of traditional shares and ETFs, living on a blockchain. Kraken first launched this service in May for users in Latin America, Asia, and Africa. Now, Europe joins the fold, breaking down old barriers to investing in international markets.
Developed with the Swiss financial technology firm Backed Finance, xStocks represent shares from giants like Apple, Nvidia, Tesla, and Meta. They also include popular funds such as the SPDR S&P 500 and the SPDR Gold Shares. These digital tokens kick off on the Solana network. They make it possible for anyone to trade these assets anytime, day or night, without the usual delays or extra costs from middlemen.
Mark Greenberg, who leads Kraken’s global consumer efforts, put it plainly: “It’s been too hard to get into U.S. markets for too long. With xStocks, we’re taking away many of those hurdles.” This move aims to cut out currency conversions, slow settlement times, and high fees that have often kept global investors from American stocks.
A New Way to Invest: Financial Access for Everyone
Since their debut in May, xStocks have seen over $3.84 billion in trades across various platforms, according to data from Dune Analytics.
The platform offers more than 60 different tokenized assets. These aren’t just for buying whole shares; they allow for fractional ownership, meaning you can buy a small piece of an expensive stock. This boosts liquidity and opens doors for more investors. Plus, xStocks work well with decentralized finance (DeFi) systems. This means investors can use their xStocks as collateral or in other DeFi apps, opening up even more investment paths.
Kraken is thinking big with a “multichain” approach to reach as many people as possible. While starting on Solana, known for its speed and low fees, the service recently added support for the Tron network through a partnership with TRON DAO. Future plans include expanding to Binance Smart Chain, Ethereum, and even Kraken’s own blockchain, Ink.
Arjun Sethi, co-CEO of Kraken, noted, “Expanding xStocks to three blockchains in under 60 days shows what happens when you build for openness from the start.”
The Rise of Tokenized Assets
Turning real-world assets into digital tokens, often called RWA tokenization, is a major trend gaining steam globally. Even big financial institutions are looking at it. Experts from Boston Consulting Group and McKinsey & Company predict the global market for tokenized assets could hit trillions of dollars by the 2030s. This is a huge jump from today’s market, which is valued at over $28 billion, as shown by rwa.xyz. Tokenized stocks alone currently stand at $421 million.
It’s important to know that xStocks are different from traditional shares in one key way: they don’t give you voting rights in the company. Instead, they are set up as debt instruments, backed by real securities held by Backed Finance. This means users can trade their tokens for cash at a 1:1 ratio, blending the stability of regular assets with the adaptability of blockchain technology.
Meeting the Competition
Kraken isn’t the only one exploring this new territory. Other platforms, like Robinhood, have also started offering tokenized securities in Europe. However, some companies, such as OpenAI, have warned against buying certain tokens. Kraken aims to stand out by offering global access, continuous trading, and DeFi compatibility. These features differentiate it from many traditional financial platforms.
Bringing xStocks to Europe, after first reaching emerging markets and linking up with Tron, shows Kraken’s push to merge Wall Street with the crypto world. While this offering isn’t available to users in the United States, it’s expected to keep growing in other areas where more people want easy access to global markets.
With this move, Kraken is not just widening its reach. It’s also driving a shift towards financial markets that are more open, decentralized, and accessible for everyone, shaping the future of investing worldwide.
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