Kraken to Acquire Backed Finance, Expanding Tokenized Equities Ahead of 2026 IPO

Kraken has agreed to acquire Backed Finance, the tokenized asset issuer behind its xStocks product. The deal brings the issuer inside the exchange as tokenized equities gain traction.

Kraken Deepens xStocks Push With Backed Deal

According to blog post, Kraken did not disclose financial terms. The move comes as Kraken prepares for a planned 2026 IPO.

Backed issues on chain representations of about 71 assets across public equities and ETFs. Each token is backed one-for-one by the underlying security. The firm is the second-largest provider of tokenized public stocks, with about 23% market share, based on RWA.xyz data.

The platform said xStocks has produced more than $5 billion in cumulative trading volume on its platform. Backed has powered xStocks since the offering launched. The acquisition turns that supplier relationship into ownership.

The platform has expanded distribution for xStocks over the past year. It rolled the service out in the United States earlier this year. It then added access in Europe and extended support to Tron, BNB, and Solana.

Backed’s technology is also used beyond Kraken. Bybit relied on Backed to add tokenized equities in Nvidia, Strategy, and other firms to Mantle’s on-chain ecosystem. That reach has made Backed a common backend for tokenized stock products.

The deal lands as tokenization shifts from pilot programs to wider use. BlackRock executives Larry Fink and Rob Goldstein recently said tokenization could reshape financial markets. They compared its potential impact to the early internet’s effect on information.

Standard Chartered has projected tokenized real-world assets could reach $2 trillion by 2028. The bank said most activity may concentrate on Ethereum. Demand for tokenized yield products and collateral that can be used on-chain has also pushed growth through 2025, according to analysts at Oracle protocol RedStone.

Platform Links Tokenization Control to IPO Run-Up

Kraken’s purchase gives it closer control over issuance and maintenance for tokenized equities. It also creates a clearer path to link those assets with spot markets and collateral frameworks on the exchange. Backed, founded in 2021, will continue supporting its existing tokens during the transition.

Kraken has been building around tokenization as it scales toward public markets. The company closed a funding round this year that valued it at about $20 billion. It has also confidential draft S-1 for U.S. IPO with SEC, with a target of 2026.

The exchange has paired product expansion with acquisitions. It bought the Small Exchange to develop U.S. derivatives trading. It also announced a $1.5 billion deal to acquire NinjaTrader, described as the biggest crypto TradFi acquisition to date.