Kraken, Backed, and BNB Chain Join Forces to Supercharge Tokenized Stocks

Holy crypto, Batman! The race to put Wall Street on-chain just shifted into overdrive. Kraken, Backed, and BNB Chain are teaming up to bring tokenized stocks to one of the most buzzing ecosystems in crypto, pushing xStocks into the big leagues!

On July 9, the crypto exchange Kraken dropped a bombshell announcement about a strategic partnership with tokenization wizards Backed and BNB Chain. They're expanding their xStocks offerings to one of the biggest blockchain networks out there, based on daily users. Get ready for some serious action!

In the coming weeks, Kraken clients outside the U.S. will be able to deposit and withdraw tokenized U.S. equities like Apple's AAPLx and Tesla's TSLAx as BEP-20 tokens. This is hot on the heels of xStocks' initial launch on Solana last month. Kraken is on a mission to shake up how public equities circulate in the digital economy, and they're not messing around!

Why BNB Chain Could Be the Game-Changer for Tokenized Stocks

Kraken and Backed's decision to bring xStocks to BNB Chain is a power move. They picked this network for its massive scale and killer efficiency. It's like choosing the turbo-boosted rocket for your intergalactic journey!

With a whopping $10 billion in total value locked and one of the most active user bases in crypto, BNB Chain is the place to be. It's got the liquidity and accessibility that tokenized equities need to take off. It's like the perfect launchpad!

Backed's xStocks will now zoom around as BEP-20 tokens, letting you seamlessly move between Kraken's centralized platform and BNB Chain's decentralized wonderland. For traders, it's a no-brainer: lower fees than Ethereum, faster settlement than traditional markets, and it plays nice with DeFi protocols. It's the ultimate trifecta!

Kraken Co-CEO Arjun Sethi says it's not just about spreading the love—it's about composability. "Expanding to BNB Chain reinforces our core belief that tokenized equities are not just digital wrappers for traditional assets—they're a fundamental upgrade to the financial system itself," he declares. It's like building the ultimate financial LEGO set!

Kraken's move to BNB Chain is also a strategic play for global domination. While they launched over 60 tokenized stocks on Solana last month, targeting users in 140 countries, BNB Chain's presence in emerging markets like Southeast Asia and Latin America could open up a whole new world for retail investors who've been shut out of U.S. equities. It's like giving them a golden ticket to the financial chocolate factory!

Sarah Song, BNB Chain's Head of Business Development, says, "Tokenizing real-world assets on BNB Chain is a big step towards making global finance more accessible and transparent." The chain's infrastructure, including its EVM compatibility and high throughput, breaks down the barriers that legacy systems throw up. It's like tearing down the wall between traditional finance and the crypto world!

But the big question is: will people actually use these things? On-chain data shows just $32.8 million in xStocks trading volume so far, which is a drop in the bucket. But Kraken's internal exchange volume could crank that number up to eleven!

The real test is whether these assets will do more than just fuel speculative trading. Backed co-founder Adam Levi envisions xStocks becoming "the standard for tokenized equities" by integrating with lending protocols, derivatives platforms, and other DeFi primitives. If that happens, tokenized stocks could evolve from just being synthetic proxies to becoming the building blocks of the financial future. It's like watching a caterpillar turn into a crypto butterfly!