Kraken, a prominent cryptocurrency exchange, has agreed to acquire Backed Finance, a Swiss tokenized asset issuer, in a strategic move to bolster its offerings in the rapidly growing tokenization sector. This acquisition comes as Kraken positions itself for a planned initial public offering in 2026.
Backed Finance is behind the xStokens offering, which issues onchain representations of approximately 71 assets, including public equities and exchange-traded funds (ETFs), each backed one-for-one by underlying securities. According to RWA.xyz data, Backed is the second-largest provider of tokenized public stocks with roughly 23% market share.
Kraken did not disclose the financial terms of the deal. The acquisition formalizes an existing partnership, with Backed having powered Kraken's xStokens since its launch, generating over $5 billion in cumulative trading volume on the exchange. Kraken has expanded xStokens to the U.S. and European markets and recently extended support to the Tron, BNB, and Solana blockchains.
Backed's infrastructure also underpins other industry integrations, such as Bybit's use of it to add tokenized equities like Nvidia to Mantle's onchain ecosystem. The move aligns with broader tokenization trends, highlighted by BlackRock executives Larry Fink and Rob Goldstein, who noted tokenization's potential to reshape financial markets. Standard Chartered projects that tokenized real-world assets could reach $2 trillion by 2028, with much activity concentrated on Ethereum.
Kraken has been actively scaling its operations, closing a funding round this year that valued the company at about $20 billion and confidentially filing for a U.S. IPO. This acquisition is part of several deals, including the purchase of the Small Exchange and the $1.5 billion acquisition of NinjaTrader. Arjun Sethi, Kraken's co-CEO, emphasized the long-term focus, stating, "While everyone is talking about tokenized equities, we are just doing it. We are focused on long-term investment, not hype."
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