Kraken Launches Tokenized Stock Perpetual Futures on Nvidia, Apple and Other U.S. Shares

Perpetual futures have no expiry date and use funding rates to keep contract prices close to spot prices. They are a mainstay of the global crypto derivatives market, which recorded more than $60 trillion in trading volume in 2025. Kraken parent Payward announced on April 17, 2026, that it would acquire Bitnomial for up to $550 million, gaining its CFTC-licensed exchange, clearinghouse and futures commission merchant to establish a regulated foundation for bringing the products back to the United States.

Kraken initially said in late May 2026 that it would launch the contracts within 30 days. On June 15, it formally made them available to eligible U.S. clients through Kraken Pro, with the contracts listed on Bitnomial. The initial offering covers nine assets: BTC, ETH, SOL, XRP, ADA, LINK, DOGE, LTC and AVAX. Trading is integrated with spot, margin and CME futures in a single interface.

Spot margin trading allows investors to pledge existing crypto assets as collateral and borrow funds to increase long or short positions, magnifying both gains and losses. Regulated US platforms previously limited the service to institutions and wealthy individuals with portfolios of at least $10 million, leaving most retail traders to forgo it or use offshore platforms.

Kraken announced on May 6, 2026, that eligible US retail clients could access spot margin trading with leverage of up to 10 times on Kraken Pro, initially covering 19 trading pairs. The service is executed and cleared by CFTC-registered futures commission merchant NinjaTrader Clearing under the Kraken Derivatives US name, while financing is provided by Payward Accredited.

Kraken has expanded in recent years from a cryptocurrency exchange into a multi-asset platform. Its xStocks, issued by Backed Assets (JE) Limited, are backed 1:1 by underlying US shares or exchange-traded fund assets. The tokens give non-US investors exposure to US stock prices. Trading volume exceeded $25 billion over the past year, reflecting growing demand to bring traditional assets onchain.

Kraken launched its “Crypto + xStocks” bundles on April 30, 2026, initially offering them to non-US retail clients in selected countries. The products use preset allocations and automatic rebalancing. Bundles include Bitcoin paired with SPYx, a token tracking the S&P 500 ETF, as well as technology stocks such as Apple and NVIDIA combined with Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana. Investors can also make recurring purchases, break up the bundles or sell them.

Kraken and asset-tokenization provider Backed launched xStocks in June 2025, bringing U.S. stocks such as NVIDIA and Tesla, as well as ETFs, onchain through tokens backed 1:1 by the underlying shares. The products bring traditional securities liquidity into DeFi and allow eligible investors to hold and transfer tokens across platforms, although the tokens do not constitute direct ownership of the shares.

Kraken launched xChange on March 5, 2026, enabling 24/5 trading of more than 70 tokenized U.S. stocks and ETFs on Ethereum and Solana. Its atomic settlement mechanism prevents partial fills. Onchain xStocks trading volume has exceeded $3.5 billion, while total volume across exchanges has reached $25 billion. More than $225 million in assets are held onchain by about 80,000 holders.