- Kraken and Backed team up with BNB Chain to expand xStocks beyond Solana.
- New BNB Chain launch brings tokenized Apple and Tesla shares to millions globally.
- Kraken aims for an always-on, multi-chain stock market with DeFi integration.
Kraken is taking another big step in bringing traditional stocks onto the blockchain. The well-known crypto exchange has announced a new partnership with Backed and BNB Chain. This will enable it to expand its successful xStocks product to the BNB Chain, leveraging the Solana network. The collaboration was announced on the Wednesday X account and has already generated buzz among those interested in the cryptocurrency field.
Kraken, Backed Bring U.S. Equities to Blockchain
First of all, xStocks enables individuals to purchase and own tokenized versions of live U.S. stocks and ETFs. These are such giants as Apple, Tesla, Nvidia, and even S&P 500 index itself. The names of the tokens are AAPLx, NVDAx, TSLAx, and SPYx. Listing these stocks on the blockchain, Kraken and Backed are facilitating access of global citizens to invest in U.S. equities.
xStocks were available on Solana up to this point. They will now be provided on BNB Chain as BEP-20 tokens as well with this new partnership. It implies that soon Kraken users will be able to deposit and withdraw xStocks with BNB Chain. It has the purpose of enabling more people to own and trade the U.S. stocks easily 24/7 wherever they reside.
BNB Chain is a massive blockchain network globally. It was selected in this project due to the low cost of its fee, high transaction speed and the size of the global community. Actually, BNB Chain boasts approximately 10 billion dollars in total value locked and one of the most active Web3 communities. This puts it in a good position to expand tokenized assets such as xStocks.
Backed Co-Founder Sees Tokenized Equities Beating Stablecoins
Kraken co-CEO Arjun Sethi stated that the move is an indication of the transformation of the future of finance. He considers that capital markets will operate in many blockchains and will not be fixated to only one. He said that tokenized stocks are not merely digital copies of real shares.
According to Sethi, Kraken wants to build an “always-on” stock market. This implies that individuals have the freedom to purchase and sell stocks at any time, without being restricted by business hours and outdated banking systems. Through blockchain, these tokenized stocks will be able to integrate with other DeFi products such as lending and derivatives.
Adam Levi, the Backed co-founder, concurred. He added that the extension of xStocks to the BNB Chain is a significant move towards normalizing tokenized equities for all. He is confident that tokenized stocks can be more helpful than stablecoins due to their ability to use them in numerous ways within DeFi. This vision can be even more accelerated with the international presence of BNB Chain.
Sarah S, the Head of Business Development at BNB Chain, stated that this project will contribute to the openness and fairness of finance. By securing assets such as stocks in the real world on the blockchain, anyone can invest in what was once available to a select few.
Kraken has recently introduced more than 60 tokenized U.S. stocks on its Backed on Solana platform in the last few months. They are already accessible in 185 countries. The inclusion of BNB Chain will now increase the number of individuals in the xStocks Alliance.
