Crypto exchange Kraken is planning to offer non-US customers the option of trading tokenized US stocks, part of the company’s push to offer more traditional assets via tokenization.
The products will be offered through Backed, a new Kraken partner, according to a statement shared with Cointelegraph. Tokens representing the stocks will be stored on the Solana blockchain due to its “unmatched performance, low latency and thriving global ecosystem,” the statement said.
“The whole point of crypto is that we’re able to see things very transparently,” Kraken co-CEO Arjun Sethi said during Solana’s Accelerate event on May 22. ”It’s decentralized. It is open-source. You can innovate as quickly as possible, and there’s no reason why companies like us can’t morph to do that.”
The decision to incorporate more traditional investment options may indicate a shift by Kraken to compete less with crypto-native exchanges like Coinbase and more with larger brokerages like Robinhood, which provide