The crypto exchange Kraken has announced the acquisition of the Swiss tokenization company Backed Finance. The transaction gives Kraken full control over the xStocks platform, which offers tokenized stocks and ETFs.
The acquisition comes just two weeks after Kraken’s USD 800 million funding round, which included participation from Citadel Securities. With its fifth acquisition in 2025, Kraken underscores its ambitions in the Real World Assets (RWA) segment and consolidates its position in the rapidly growing market for tokenized securities. The purchase price was not disclosed.
Subscribe to our newsletter
The best articles of the week, directly delivered into your mailbox.
Strategic expansion of tokenization infrastructure
Backed Finance AG, headquartered in Switzerland, has established itself as a leading issuer of tokenized securities. The company offers more than 60 products, including digital representations of US equities such as Tesla, Apple, Nvidia, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, and Netflix, as well as various exchange traded funds. The xStocks platform, launched in early 2025 on the Solana and Ethereum blockchains, reached a combined trading volume of USD 10 billion from on-chain and exchange transactions within four months. The integration of Backed Finance enables Kraken to unite issuance, trading, and settlement of tokenized assets under one roof.
"Integrating Backed into Kraken strengthens the core architecture required for open and programmable capital markets. Unifying issuance, trading, and settlement under a single framework ensures that the infrastructure for tokenized assets remains transparent, reliable, and globally accessible." Arjun Sethi, Co-CEO Kraken
Kraken had already introduced the xStocks products to eligible European users in September 2025, only a few months after announcing a partnership with Backed Finance in June. The acquisition therefore follows a logical strategic trajectory, moving Kraken from distribution to full control of the value chain.
Market position in the growing RWA segment
The market for tokenized Real World Assets (RWAs) experienced exceptional growth in 2025. According to data from the analytics platform RWA.xyz, the RWA tokenization market reached a volume of USD 18 billion in October 2025, excluding stablecoins. This represents 400 percent growth over three years and signals the shift from experimental projects to institutional adoption.
In the segment of regulated tokenized equities, Ondo Finance leads with a 52 percent market share, followed by Backed Finance with 24 percent and Securitize with 20 percent. Through the acquisition, Kraken positions itself as a vertically integrated provider in a market that analysts estimate to reach between USD 2 trillion and USD 30 trillion by 2030. McKinsey forecasts USD 2 trillion, while the Boston Consulting Group expects USD 16 trillion and Standard Chartered USD 30 trillion by 2034.
The most popular xStock is the tokenized Tesla equity product with more than 11,000 token holders. The digital versions of Apple, Nvidia, and Circle also show strong user numbers. The platform reached USD 300 million in trading volume just four weeks after launch and surpassed USD 2 billion in August 2025 before exceeding the USD 10 billion threshold in November.
Institutional adoption is accelerating rapidly
Tokenized securities such as the xStocks products do not fall under the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA), which has been fully applicable in the European Union since December 30, 2024. Instead, they continue to be regulated under the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II), which governs traditional financial instruments. This regulatory clarity gives established issuers such as Backed Finance an advantage over pure crypto platforms.
The acquisition also highlights the growing interest of traditional financial institutions in the tokenization market. Kraken’s recent funding round in November 2025 raised USD 800 million and valued the company at USD 20 billion. The USD 200 million contribution from Citadel Securities, one of the largest US market-makers, is seen as one of the strongest signals of increasing Wall Street acceptance of digital assets.
As part of the cooperation, Citadel Securities will support Kraken with differentiated liquidity provision, risk management expertise, and insights into market structure. This combination of traditional financial market know-how and blockchain technology could accelerate the adoption of tokenized securities.
Kraken pursues aggressive growth
With the acquisition of Backed Finance, Kraken is pursuing an aggressive expansion strategy. The company has already completed four other acquisitions in 2025: in May, Kraken acquired the trading platform NinjaTrader; in September, the proprietary trading platform Breakout; and in October, the Small Exchange. The integration of Backed Finance marks the most strategically significant deal, as it gives Kraken direct access to the issuance of regulated financial products.
Sethi emphasized the transformative importance of the acquisition. It is about more than giving people access to US equities. It is about redefining what it means to own assets in the digital age. The Co-CEO described the transaction as "foundational work for the next era of market structure" and added: "While everyone is talking about tokenized stocks, we are simply executing."
For the RWA sector, the Kraken-Backed transaction is likely to represent a signal of maturity. In parallel, Securitize, the largest competitor with USD 4 billion in tokenized assets, went public in October 2025 through a SPAC merger and reached a valuation of USD 1.25 billion. Increasing consolidation and institutional participation suggest that tokenized securities are leaving their experimental phase and becoming an established segment of the financial industry.
