Kraken Partners BNB Chain to Expand Tokenized U.S. Equities Access

Kraken, a prominent cryptocurrency exchange, has announced a strategic partnership with BNB Chain, one of the world’s leading blockchain ecosystems. This collaboration, facilitated through Kraken's xStocks partner Backed, aims to accelerate onchain access to tokenized U.S. equities for users globally.

In the coming weeks, eligible clients will be able to deposit and withdraw xStocks from Kraken's platform via the BNB Chain. Backed will deploy xStocks, the industry standard for tokenized equities, on BNB Chain as BEP-20 tokens. This deployment will provide users with seamless access to tokenized representations of U.S.-listed stocks and ETFs, including assets like AAPLx, TSLAx, SPYx, and NVDAx.

The expansion to BNB Chain aligns with xStocks' mission to bring traditional equities onchain and open access for underserved markets worldwide. BNB Chain was chosen for its high performance, low transaction fees, and its status as one of the largest blockchain ecosystems by on-chain activity. With around $10 billion in total value locked (TVL) and a highly active Web3 user community, BNB Chain offers a robust foundation for growing tokenized asset adoption.

Arjun Sethi, Kraken co-CEO, emphasized the significance of this partnership, stating that the future of capital markets will be chain-neutral, composable, and multichain by design. He highlighted that tokenized equities are not just digital wrappers for traditional assets but a foundational upgrade to the financial system. These instruments enable programmable settlement primitives, unlocking atomic settlement, real-time global transferability, and composability with onchain lending, derivatives, and structured products.

Adam Levi, co-founder of Backed, noted that xStocks are built as a neutral, public-good asset class, and expanding to BNB Chain is a key step toward making them the standard for tokenized equities. The goal is to bring traditional finance onto blockchain rails, not just by improving access but by enabling true composability. Integrated into decentralized finance (DeFi), tokenized equities have the potential to surpass the scale and utility of stablecoins.

Sarah S, Head of Business Development at BNB Chain, expressed that tokenizing real-world assets on BNB Chain is a meaningful step in making global finance more accessible and transparent. The collaboration with Kraken and Backed reflects BNB Chain’s commitment to bringing high-quality financial instruments on-chain and connecting traditional markets with decentralized finance for users around the world.

This partnership marks another significant milestone for xStocks, expanding the alliance to one of the world’s largest and most active blockchain ecosystems. Recently, Kraken launched over 60 tokenized U.S. equities, deployed by Backed as SPL-tokens on Solana, for users across 185 countries. This strategic partnership signals the next phase in mainstreaming tokenized equities, cementing xStocks’ leading role at the forefront of this rapidly evolving digital asset landscape.