Kraken Advances Tokenization Strategy with Acquisition of Backed

Kraken is accelerating its push into asset tokenization as it prepares for a potential 2026 IPO, acquiring Swiss-based Backed, a leading provider of tokenized public equities and ETFs. While financial terms were not disclosed, the move strengthens Kraken’s position in the rapidly expanding tokenized assets market. Backed currently issues on-chain representations of roughly 71 assets, each backed one-to-one by the underlying security, and holds an estimated 23% market share according to RWA.xyz.

Backed has long powered xStocks, a tokenized equities platform that has generated more than $5 billion in cumulative volume. By acquiring Backed, Kraken transforms a key supplier relationship into direct ownership, allowing tighter integration and more efficient control over issuance, maintenance, and interoperability of tokenized assets across its exchange. xStocks has also widened its footprint over the past year, launching in the U.S., expanding into Europe, and adding network support for Tron, BNB Chain, and Solana.

The significance of Backed’s technology reaches well beyond Kraken. Platforms like Bybit have relied on Backed to offer tokenized shares of companies such as Nvidia within Mantle’s on-chain ecosystem. This broad adoption has made Backed a central infrastructure provider in the tokenized stock market and underscores why tokenization is shifting from experimentation to mainstream use. Global financial leaders including BlackRock’s Larry Fink and Rob Goldstein have emphasized tokenization’s transformative potential, comparing its long-term impact to the rise of the early internet. Forecasts from Standard Chartered suggest tokenized real-world assets could hit $2 trillion by 2028, with Ethereum expected to dominate activity.

Kraken’s acquisition aligns with its broader growth strategy as it scales toward the public markets. The company recently secured funding that valued it at roughly $20 billion and submitted a confidential draft S-1 to the SEC. Alongside expanding its tokenization capabilities, Kraken has been aggressively building out its trading ecosystem, acquiring the Small Exchange and announcing a landmark $1.5 billion deal for NinjaTrader—one of the largest TradFi-crypto acquisitions to date.