Kraken and Backed Finance Expand xStocks Tokenized US Equities to TRON, Democratizing Global Market Access

In a significant development poised to enhance global financial accessibility, leading cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, in collaboration with Swiss-based Backed Finance, has successfully expanded its tokenized U.S. equities product, xStocks, onto the TRON blockchain. This strategic integration leverages TRON’s high-throughput and low-cost infrastructure to democratize access to traditional stock markets for a worldwide audience, particularly in regions traditionally underserved by conventional financial systems.

• xStocks facilitate direct, on-chain trading of tokenized shares representing leading U.S. companies.
• Each xStock is meticulously backed 1:1 by its corresponding underlying physical equity, ensuring full asset collateralization and transparency.
• Issued as TRC-20 tokens by Backed Finance, these digital assets are designed for seamless deposit and withdrawal via the TRON network.
• The expansion to TRON follows initial launches on the Solana and BNB Chain, underscoring a commitment to a robust multichain architecture.
• Since their introduction on June 1, 2025, xStocks have registered combined trading volumes exceeding $2.5 billion.
• TRON’s selection is underpinned by its proven capabilities in speed, scale, cost-efficiency, and its dominance in global stablecoin transfers.

Core Features and TRON Integration

The xStocks initiative enables direct, on-chain trading of tokenized shares for leading U.S. companies. Each xStock is fully collateralized, backed 1:1 by its corresponding physical equity, ensuring transparency and security. Issued as TRC-20 tokens by Backed Finance, these digital assets facilitate seamless deposits and withdrawals on the TRON network, designed to mirror the efficiency of stablecoin transfers. This expansion marks a significant step in Kraken and Backed Finance’s commitment to a robust multichain architecture, following successful launches on Solana and BNB Chain. Since their launch on June 1, 2025, xStocks have rapidly gained traction, achieving combined centralized and decentralized trading volumes exceeding $2.5 billion, underscoring a strong market demand for tokenized securities.

TRON’s selection as the latest blockchain for xStocks integration is strategically driven by its proven capabilities in speed, scale, and cost-efficiency. The network is a leading force in global stablecoin transfers, processing billions daily, and ranks among the top five blockchains by total value locked, with over USD 6 billion secured. Justin Sun, founder of TRON, emphasized the collaboration’s transformative potential, stating, “Tokenized equities represent a natural evolution for crypto, bridging traditional markets with blockchain. As demand for popular equities meets a global base of previously excluded users, we’ll see a more efficient, flexible, and accessible market.” Adam Levi, co-founder of Backed Finance, concurred, highlighting that extending TRON’s established utility for low-cost stablecoin transfers to tokenized equities was a logical progression, empowering global access to traditional markets with unprecedented ease.

Expanding Global Market Access

Kraken’s strategic integration with TRON aligns with its broader vision of “replatforming Wall Street on the blockchain.” With a customer base spanning over 140 countries and plans for further geographic expansion, this initiative directly addresses the challenge of limited or costly access to traditional brokerage accounts for savers worldwide. Kraken Co-CEO Arjun Sethi emphasized that deploying xStocks across three major blockchains in under 60 days demonstrates the power of an open, multichain approach, asserting that TRON’s global scale, speed, and low fees significantly advance Kraken’s objectives for tokenized markets. By enabling individuals to trade stocks with the borderless, permissionless, and interoperable characteristics inherent to blockchain technology, this development represents a significant step towards a more inclusive global financial ecosystem.