Kraken and Bitget have emerged as the dominant forces in the nascent market for tokenized stocks, capturing the majority of trading volume in a sector that has grown to nearly $850 million in on-chain value. Data from RWA.xyz shows monthly trading volume exceeding $2.4 billion, with over 155,000 unique blockchain addresses holding these assets. A key factor in this growth has been the strategic exclusion of U.S. users due to ongoing regulatory uncertainty, allowing overseas exchanges to set the early pace.
Kraken took an early lead with the June 2025 launch of its xStocks platform, developed in partnership with Backed. The platform offers tokenized U.S. equities and ETFs, featuring extended trading hours and fractional trading. Despite blocking U.S. access, Kraken reported processing over $5 billion in xStocks transactions by October 2025, including more than $1 billion in on-chain activity from over 37,000 unique holders. Initially, Kraken commanded about 97% of the total market value for tokenized equities.
However, Bitget's entry in September 2025 significantly reshaped the competitive landscape. The exchange partnered with Ondo Finance's Global Markets to list Ondo-issued tokenized stocks and ETFs. By November 2025, Bitget had reached nearly $1 billion in cumulative trading volume, capturing approximately 89% of the global volume for Ondo-issued tokens that month. This rapid growth, fueled by liquidity and listing expansion, caused Kraken's market share to drop from 97% to 55% by early 2026.
The battle for market share highlights different approaches: Kraken issues its own tokens via Backed, while Bitget acts as a distribution venue for tokens issued by Ondo. Notably, Ondo Finance has now surpassed xStocks in total issued supply of tokenized equities, according to RWA.xyz.
Major U.S. platforms remain largely on the sidelines. Robinhood launched a tokenized stocks product for EU users in June 2025 but faced regulatory scrutiny and has not announced further expansion. Coinbase has discussed plans to offer tokenized stocks to U.S. users but ties the launch to achieving full regulatory compliance, with no product live yet. Securitize continues to support tokenized equity offerings, planning a 2026 rollout for fully regulated shares that would trade on regulated venues, not crypto exchanges.
Analysts suggest that future market growth hinges on distribution and potential U.S. market access. Trading volume could accelerate significantly if platforms like Robinhood or Coinbase receive regulatory permission to offer these products to their broad user bases. Until then, Kraken and Bitget, through their strategic partnerships and focus on non-U.S. markets, continue to drive activity in this expanding sector.
