Kraken Rolls Out Tokenized Equity Perpetual Futures to Expand 24/7 Global Access

Kraken has launched tokenized equity perpetual futures through its xStocks framework, offering non-U.S. clients in more than 110 countries round-the-clock leveraged exposure to select U.S. equities, indices, and gold.

The new instruments are available on both Kraken and Kraken Pro platforms. According to the exchange, the products combine tokenized equities backed 1:1 by underlying assets with perpetual futures structures, allowing continuous trading even when traditional markets are closed.

Tokenized Benchmarks and Major Stocks

The perpetual futures track tokenized representations of major benchmarks and companies, including the S&P 500 (SPYx), Nasdaq 100 (QQQx), gold (GLDx), Apple (AAPLx), Alphabet (GOOGLx), Nvidia (NVDAx), Tesla (TSLAx), and Robinhood (HOODx), among others.

Kraken stated that each xStock is "fully collateralized and backed 1:1 by the underlying asset," enabling on-chain trading 24/7. The perpetual futures allow traders to open or close positions at any time and provide leverage of up to 20x. The exchange added that the instruments reference regulated benchmarks and are designed to support various strategies, including directional trades, event-driven positioning, and hedging.

Mark Greenberg, Kraken's Global Head of Consumer, described the move as reflective of broader market shifts. "This is what it looks like when traditional markets are rebuilt for a crypto-native, always-on world, not a moment too soon given the volatility that all markets are exhibiting," he said.

Competitive Landscape and Structure

Crypto derivatives platforms such as Binance and BitMEX already offer equity-style perpetual futures tied to individual stocks and major U.S. indices, providing 24/7 leveraged exposure using crypto collateral.

Kraken's approach differs, the company noted, in that the perpetual contracts are linked to tokenized equities that are backed 1:1 by the underlying shares and structured around regulated benchmarks, rather than solely offering cash-settled derivatives that mirror stock price movements.

Growth of the xStocks Ecosystem

Kraken also reported that xStocks has surpassed $25 billion in cumulative transaction volume in under eight months. The figure includes trading activity on centralized exchanges, DeFi protocol activity, and minting and redemption flows related to its tokenized products.

On-chain activity accounts for more than $3.5 billion of that total, supported by over 80,000 unique on-chain holders participating in the xStocks ecosystem. As of February 17, xStocks represents eight of the eleven largest tokenized equities by unique holders and 68% of the top 25 tokenized stocks by holder count.

The exchange said it plans to expand its xStocks offering in the coming months, adding more tokenized equities and ETFs and broadening access across additional markets.