Kraken and Backed Finance Extend Tokenized Stocks to BNB Chain Amid Growing RWA Trend

In a significant move to bridge traditional finance with blockchain technology, cryptocurrency exchange Kraken and tokenized asset provider Backed Finance have announced the expansion of tokenized equities to the BNB Chain (BNB). This collaboration enables round-the-clock trading of stocks such as Apple and Nvidia on the blockchain network. Starting soon, tokenized versions of U.S. stocks, including Apple (AAPLx), Tesla (TSLAx), and the S&P 500 ETF (SPYx), will be issued as BEP-20 tokens, making them accessible across the BNB Chain ecosystem. This initiative coincides with BNB Chain's entry into the xStocks Alliance, a consortium of exchanges and decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols that facilitate trading of over 60 equity and ETF tokens on cryptocurrency platforms. Kraken plans to support deposits and withdrawals of xStocks tokens via BNB Chain in the coming weeks. Adam Levi, co-founder of Backed, emphasized the goal of deeper integration of equity tokens into DeFi, enabling their use across various protocols and chains, as well as serving as collateral for loans. Arjun Sethi, co-CEO of Kraken, highlighted the transformative potential of these tokenized assets, describing them as programmable settlement primitives that offer atomic settlement, global transferability, and compatibility with on-chain financial products. This development reflects the accelerating trend of tokenizing real-world assets (RWA), with platforms like Bybit, Solana-based DeFi protocols, Gemini, and Robinhood also embracing tokenized U.S. stocks. Bitget, another crypto exchange, has joined the xStocks Alliance and introduced xStocks tokens on its platform, further expanding the ecosystem.