Crypto exchange Kraken said it agreed to buy tokenization specialist Backed Finance as crypto firms increasingly bring real-world assets on-chain in a market expected to be worth trillions of dollars in less than 10 years.
Kraken plans to add the Swiss company’s tokenized stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to its trading platform, it said in a press release on Tuesday. It did not disclose terms of the deal.
The stock exchange has been on an acquisition spree as it prepares to be listed. Earlier this year, it bought US futures platform NinjaTrader for $1.5 billion, US-licensed derivatives trading platform Small Exchange for $100 million and proprietary trading firm Breakout. Last month, Kraken raised $800 million in a fundraising round with participation from Citadel Securities, valuing the company at $20 billion.
“Integrating Backed into Kraken strengthens the core architecture required for open and programmable capital markets,” Kraken co-CEO Arjun Sethi said in the statement. “Unifying issuance, trading and settlement under one framework ensures that the infrastructure for tokenized assets remains transparent, reliable and globally accessible.”
The two introduced xStocks, a tokenized stock offering in June. Since then, xStocks has issued over $170 million in equity tokens and recorded $2.3 billion of onchain trading volume, according to a Dune dashboard.
The purchase fits into a broader tokenization trend, as crypto companies and traditional asset managers migrate real-world assets like bonds, stocks and funds to blockchain rails. By doing so, they strive for operational efficiency, faster settlement, round-the-clock trading and wider distribution, supporters say. The market will be worth $18 trillion by 2033, according to a report by Ripple and BCG.
