Kraken Takes U.S. Stock Trading Across the EEA

Kraken has opened trading in more than 7,000 U.S.-listed stocks to eligible customers across the European Economic Area, extending its push beyond crypto into regulated traditional securities.

The service went live Tuesday under Kraken’s MiFID II authorization and is provided by Payward Europe Digital Solutions (CY) Limited, a Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission-regulated investment firm. Trading is available through Kraken Pro on desktop and mobile as well as the Kraken app, with no commission charged, although spreads, foreign-exchange costs and other fees may still apply, according to Kraken.

The more unusual part of the rollout is what sits beside those shares. Customers can hold traditional U.S. equities alongside crypto and Kraken’s xStocks, giving them two structurally different ways to gain exposure to some of the same companies.

Direct shares represent ownership in the company and process dividends through the brokerage account. xStocks, by contrast, are 1:1-collateralized tokenized instruments issued by Backed Assets (JE) Limited. They provide economic exposure but not shareholder voting rights or a legal claim to the underlying company shares. The tokens can also be transferred to compatible self-custody wallets and traded outside normal U.S. market hours.

That difference becomes particularly relevant outside regular trading sessions. Tokenized equities can continue changing hands when the underlying exchange is closed, creating potential gaps in liquidity and price discovery — an issue examined recently in the mechanics of off-hours trading.

Kraken says xStocks have now generated more than $38 billion in total transaction volume. The new stock service also extends Payward’s broader diversification away from dependence on crypto spot trading; its latest Q2 results showed asset-based and other revenue reaching 60% of total revenue while platform transaction volume declined.

Kraken said it plans to take the combined traditional-stock and tokenized-equity offering into additional markets in the coming months.