kraken

The tokenization market just delivered another major signal of growth. Nonce Classic has officially exited its investment in Backed Finance, shortly after Kraken acquired the platform — a move that highlights how quickly real-world asset (RWA) tokenization is becoming part of mainstream crypto infrastructure.

Kraken’s acquisition strengthens the case for tokenized stocks. Backed Finance built xStocks, fully collateralized digital tokens backed 1:1 by shares of major companies. This model brings traditional equities onto the blockchain, offering 24/7 access, global liquidity, and future integration with DeFi.

Nonce Classic’s early investment in Backed Finance paid off because they backed a regulated, compliance-first issuer at the right moment. Their exit shows how Web3 investors can benefit from infrastructure projects that connect TradFi and decentralized markets.

As tokenization expands, the industry will likely see more acquisitions, more integrations, and more demand for compliant RWA platforms. Kraken’s move is another sign that tokenized assets are transitioning from experiment to essential market infrastructure.

#Tokenization #Kraken #Web3 $BTC

Updated | Markets

Kraken, one of the world’s leading cryptocurrency exchanges and a company preparing for a U.S. IPO next year, has officially launched an invite-only VIP program designed for ultra high net worth individuals (UHNWIs), elite traders, and strategic capital allocators.

The move signals a growing shift among crypto exchanges toward high-touch, relationship-driven services, traditionally seen in private banking and institutional finance.

What Is Kraken VIP?

Kraken VIP is positioned as a premium-tier service offering elevated client support, privileged access, and personalized relationship management.

Key highlights include:

Dedicated VIP Relationship Manager

24/7 multi-channel support

Early insight into Kraken’s full product ecosystem

Direct access to Kraken experts across liquidity, custody, infrastructure, and engineering

Priority influence on product development and platform strategy

According to Kraken, the program is built for clients who operate at true scale, not just high-frequency traders.

Who Qualifies?

Membership to Kraken VIP requires:

$10 million average balance held on the platform

OR

$80 million in annual trading volume

This places the program firmly out of reach for retail investors and squarely focused on whales, family offices, funds, and professional trading entities.

Beyond Trading: “Extraordinary Experiences”

In a move that goes beyond financial services, Kraken is also offering VIP members access to exclusive off-platform experiences, including:

Formula 1 events

Football matches

Cultural and private regional meet-ups

These experiences are not available to the general public and are designed to deepen loyalty and long-term engagement with top-tier clients.

Why This Matters for the Crypto Industry

Crypto exchanges are increasingly competing for elite capital, especially as retail trading activity fluctuates. Just weeks earlier, Binance introduced its own premium offering aimed at wealthy clients, highlighting a clear industry trend.

This signals:

Rising institutionalization of crypto
Growing separation between retail and elite market participants
Exchanges evolving into digital-asset private banks

LIVE UPDATE

Market observers note that Kraken’s VIP launch aligns closely with its IPO preparation strategy, suggesting the exchange is prioritizing:

Stable, long-term depositsHigh-revenue, low-churn clients
Stronger institutional credibility ahead of public listing scrutiny
Industry insiders say more exchanges are expected to roll out similar elite tiers in the coming months.

NEW UPDATE

Sources familiar with exchange competition suggest VIP programs could soon expand to include:

Customized custody and settlement solutions
Cross-border tax and compliance supportPrivate OTC liquidity channels for large block trades

If confirmed, this would further blur the line between crypto exchanges and traditional private financial institutions.

Bottom Line

Kraken VIP represents a major shift in how crypto platforms view their most valuable users. The future of crypto trading isn’t just about speed and fees — it’s increasingly about access, influence, and capital scale.

As crypto matures, power is consolidating — and exchanges are racing to secure it.

#Kraken #InstitutionalCrypto #VIPTrading #WealthManagement #CryptoMarket

Massive moves are happening in the crypto space! Kraken has officially announced the acquisition of Backed Finance AG, the powerhouse behind the xStocks platform. 🤝
Why is this huge?
Kraken is aggressively expanding into Real World Assets. By integrating xStocks, they are paving the way for tokenized stocks to live directly within their ecosystem. The bridge between Traditional Finance and Crypto just got a lot shorter! 🌉💸
This signals that 2024-2025 will likely be the golden era for the RWA narrative.
📈 Are you accumulating RWA tokens yet? Let me know your top picks below! 👇
🔥 Hit that FOLLOW button for breaking news and early alpha! 🚀
$RWA

Kraken is taking a decisive step to cement its position in the fast-growing tokenized equities sector, moving toward the acquisition of Backed Finance AG, the issuer behind the rapidly expanding xStocks platform. The deal marks a strategic effort to bring tokenized shares deeper into mainstream financial markets while tightening Kraken’s control over this emerging asset class.
A Deal Anchored in Growing Global Demand for Tokenized Stocks
Backed’s entry into the Kraken ecosystem comes at a time when interest in tokenized equities is accelerating worldwide. Since launching in early 2025, the xStocks platform has scaled at a pace that few in the industry anticipated. According to Kraken, xStocks surpassed $10 billion in combined on-exchange and onchain trading volume within just six months-an achievement that made the acquisition an increasingly compelling move.
For Kraken, the motivation is clear: merge issuance, trading, settlement, and custody into a unified framework. Instead of relying on a patchwork of intermediaries, the exchange wants to streamline the lifecycle of tokenized securities under one roof, with the goal of making capital markets more open, programmable, and borderless.
Co-CEO Arjun Sethi framed it succinctly, noting that fully integrating Backed strengthens the core infrastructure needed to build an “open and programmable capital market” for the long term.
What Backed Brings Into Kraken’s Ecosystem
Backed’s current offering includes more than 60 tokenized stocks and ETFs, each backed 1:1 by the underlying traditional asset. These instruments operate across Solana and Ethereum, with additional chains in development. Traders can engage with them around the clock-either directly onchain or through Kraken’s centralized exchange-bridging the liquidity of traditional markets with the speed and flexibility of crypto rails.
The acquisition provides Backed with the capital, infrastructure, and regulatory muscle to scale its services as institutional interest in tokenized equities grows. At the same time, Kraken will integrate xStocks into its broader suite of products, including its global money app, which may eventually allow users to hold or even spend tokenized shares.
Backed’s team will join Kraken, reinforcing key functions across compliant issuance, settlement architecture, and real-world asset expansion.
A Vision Years in the Making
For Backed co-founder Adam Levi, the acquisition accelerates a vision dating back to 2021: a compliant bridge that connects crypto-native liquidity with traditional finance. Kraken’s leadership views this move as part of its vertically integrated roadmap, following earlier acquisitions such as Breakout, Small Exchange, and Ninjatrader. Together, these additions strengthen Kraken’s foundation for a full-stack infrastructure supporting custody, payments, settlement, and market data.
By consolidating critical components of tokenized markets, Kraken believes it holds a strategic edge in deploying new real-world assets (RWAs) across open, globally accessible networks.
Building the Future of Tokenized Capital Markets
The potential impact of the acquisition goes beyond the expansion of tokenized equities. It signals Kraken’s commitment to reshaping how global capital flows can operate-removing geographic restrictions, extending trading hours, and reducing intermediaries through programmable financial tools.
If completed, the deal positions Kraken as one of the most influential players in the next era of digital assets, where tokenized stocks, RWAs, and crypto-native infrastructure coexist under the same umbrella.
As traditional finance and blockchain continue to converge, Kraken’s bid for Backed may prove to be one of the pivotal steps in bringing tokenized markets firmly into the global financial mainstream.
#Binance #Kraken $BTC $ETH $BNB

📅 December 2 | United States
The crypto market woke up with news that no one saw coming: Kraken, one of the most iconic exchanges in the ecosystem, has just announced the acquisition of Backed Finance, a company specialized in the regulated tokenization of real-world assets.

📖Kraken acquiring Backed Finance represents one of the biggest moves of the year in the race to tokenize real-world assets, a trend that is completely reshaping global financial infrastructure.
According to The Block, this operation will allow Kraken to integrate the technology and products of Backed Finance, which until now had stood out for issuing regulated tokens that represent traditional assets such as stocks, bonds and funds, allowing their circulation in public blockchain networks.
This acquisition occurs at a key moment as Kraken moves forward with its plans to carry out an IPO in the United States and seeks to demonstrate to the market that it is not only an exchange but an actor with deep ambitions in the future of decentralized AND regulated finance.
Backed Finance operates under strict regulatory guidelines in Switzerland, which allows it to offer products that comply with European regulatory frameworks and that can be used by institutions interested in exploring tokenization without exposing themselves to significant legal risks. This integration will allow Kraken to offer services that compete directly with initiatives from giants such as BlackRock that promote tokenization through its BUIDL platform.
It also aligns with the growing trend of converting traditional assets into more efficient auditable and transferable digital instruments. The operation not only strengthens Kraken in terms of infrastructure but also gives it a competitive advantage over other US exchanges that have not yet taken firm steps in tokenization, which could impact its public valuation when it goes public.
Analysts point out that Kraken's strategy aims to capture the institutional segment that seeks to enter Web3 through backed, regulated assets and that this purchase could attract banks, funds and institutions that until now have seen exchanges as simple intermediaries and not as advanced financial infrastructures.
Meanwhile, the Backed Finance team celebrated the integration by stating that its technology will be able to scale globally by integrating into the Kraken ecosystem, an ecosystem that already has millions of users, regulatory presence and international operational capacity.

Topic Opinion:
Tokenization is not only the future: it is already happening on a large scale. And Kraken, by integrating the Backed Finance infrastructure, shows that it understands where the institutional market is headed. I think these types of decisions should inspire more players in the sector to prioritize technology and regulation, not just volume or marketing.
💬 Do you think Kraken will gain an advantage in tokenization with this purchase?

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#Kraken #Tokenization #CryptoNews #blockchain #IPO $BTC