Kraken plans to launch tokenized trading of US stocks. Non-US users can trade large-cap stocks such as Tesla (TSLA.US) 24 hours a day

The Zhitong Finance App learned that the US cryptocurrency exchange Kraken announced that it will launch tokenized versions of more than 50 US stocks and ETFs for non-US customers in Europe, Latin America, Africa and Asia in the next few weeks, including well-known companies such as Apple (AAPL.US), Tesla (TSLA.US), and Nvidia (NVDA.US). These tokens, known as “xStocks,” will run on the Solana blockchain and support 24/7 trading 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with the aim of providing investors around the world with a more convenient channel to invest in US stocks.

Kraken has partnered with Fintech Backed Finance, which will buy and host actual shares and ETF shares and issue a corresponding amount of tokens. These tokens will be consistent with their corresponding stock prices and can be exchanged for corresponding cash values.

Kraken Co-CEO Arjun Sethi said, “We are reducing barriers to entry into the US stock market for global investors.” He pointed out that overseas investors usually buy US stocks through local brokers, but this usually involves high fees and long settlement times.

Notably, Kraken's service will not be available to US users to avoid potential regulatory issues. Previously, other cryptocurrency exchanges tried to launch similar tokenized stock services, but were forced to stop due to regulatory pressure. Kraken said it is actively cooperating with national regulators to ensure that its xStocks products are launched in a legal and compliant manner in various countries.

Kraken's xStocks program is seen as an important step in the integration of traditional finance and the cryptocurrency sector. By tokenizing traditional stocks, investors can invest flexibly without traditional trading time restrictions. Additionally, these tokens can also be transferred to personal digital wallets or used as collateral for decentralized finance (DeFi) strategies, further expanding their application scenarios.