Kraken Smashes Traditional Finance: Over 50 Tokenized Stocks and ETFs Coming Soon

Wall Street’s worst nightmare just got a caffeine boost—Kraken’s diving headfirst into tokenized equities.

The exchange plans to list 50+ stock and ETF tokens, blurring lines between crypto and legacy markets. Traders can now ape into fractionalized Tesla or SPY without begging a broker for permission.

Another brick in DeFi’s wall? Maybe. But let’s see how fast the SEC starts hyperventilating over this one. After all, nothing triggers regulators like innovation that bypasses their 20th-century rulebooks.

International users

Kraken said the rollout will target customers in Europe, Latin America, Africa, and Asia, with U.S.-based users excluded due to regulatory restrictions. 

The tokens can eventually be moved to external wallets or used as collateral in decentralized finance (DeFi) applications.

“We’re reducing friction for global investors,” said Kraken co-CEO Arjun Sethi. He noted that overseas investors typically face high fees and long settlement times when accessing U.S. equities through local brokerages.

Tokenized stocks have been tried before. Binance briefly offered similar products in 2021 but halted the service amid regulatory pushback. Kraken says it is working closely with regulators in each jurisdiction to avoid the same fate.

The MOVE comes amid renewed interest in tokenization from major players like BlackRock and Robinhood, as U.S. lawmakers and regulators begin reconsidering the legal frameworks for crypto-based financial products.