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Kraken Exchange Set to Acquire Backed Finance Ahead of IPO
The U.S. exchange will acquire the company behind 'xStocks' tokenized equities.
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Crypto exchange Kraken will soon acquire Backed Finance – the company that issues "xStocks" tokenized equities – for an undisclosed amount. Backed's xStocks debuted earlier in 2025, and surpassed $10B in combined exchange and onchain trading volume within six months of launch.
What's the Scoop?
- New Acquisition: Kraken has agreed to acquire Backed Finance. The exchange believes it can accelerate xStocks’ expansion by "bringing tokenized equities to new markets and extending their reach into everyday financial experiences."
- Prior Partnership: Kraken announced it would partner with Backed to offer xStocks exposure to its U.S. exchange clients this May; access was subsequently expanded to European customers in September.
- IPO Ambitions: On November 19, Kraken confirmed that it had "confidently" filed to become a publicly traded company, one day after revealing its combined $800M raise across two rounds (the second of which was a $200M strategic investment from TradFi market making titian Citadel Securities, executed at a $20B valuation).
📣 We’re bringing @BackedFi, the company driving the issuance of xStocks, fully into Kraken.
— Kraken (@krakenfx) December 2, 2025
Why? Because tokenized equities won’t reach global scale without unified rails.
With @xStocksFi now fully in-house, we’re accelerating the future of open, 24/7 capital markets 👇…