Kraken began offering US equity trading to eligible customers across the European Economic Area on August 18, following a quiet rollout that had started in Germany, the Netherlands, and France in the days before. The service operates through Payward Europe Digital Solutions (CY) Limited, a Cyprus investment firm with Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II authorization, which covers investment services across EU member states.
The account structure Kraken is offering EEA customers
Eligible customers can access more than 7,000 US-listed equities through Kraken Pro on desktop and mobile as well as the main Kraken app. Those shares sit in the same account as xStocks, Kraken's blockchain-based products backed 1:1 by underlying securities, which can be transferred to self-custody wallets and traded outside standard US market hours. Commission-free trading is available for eligible customers, subject to applicable terms, with spreads and foreign-exchange charges treated as separate costs.
Eligibility is not automatic. Existing EEA customers must accept additional terms and conditions before equities become accessible on their accounts.
"This launch eliminates the artificial divide between traditional and tokenized formats of the same asset. With US-listed stocks and xStocks available side-by-side in a single regulated account, customers can choose how they access the same underlying exposure whether through traditional shares or tokenized representation without moving capital or changing platforms," said Mark Greenberg, Chief Commercial Officer of Payward and Head of Payward Services. "That's what modern investing should look like: one asset class, multiple formats, fully integrated."
What xStocks became in the 14 months before this EEA launch
Kraken introduced xStocks in June 2025. Each token was backed 1:1 by the corresponding security through custody held by Backed Assets (JE) Limited. By March 2026, total xStocks transaction volume had reached $25 billion, with $3.5 billion attributed to onchain transactions and more than 80,000 onchain holders on record, according to CoinMarketCap. Kraken's current figure places volume above $38 billion, a rise of roughly $13 billion from the March tally.
The product changed scope between its June 2025 launch and the EEA rollout. Kraken built xChange in March, a dedicated execution layer initially covering more than 70 tokenized equities on Ethereum and Solana. In July, eligible users outside the United States could post selected xStocks as collateral for futures and margin positions on Kraken Pro, with ten assets eligible at launch.
Where Kraken differs from other European platforms
Kraken's position in the EEA is distinct from what other platforms currently offer European customers. Bitpanda offers US stock trading in Europe without tokenized equities. Robinhood and Crypto.com offer tokenized US equity products to eligible European users but do not appear to provide traditional share trading in the region. Crypto.com's European tokenized products give buyers synthetic price exposure without legal or beneficial ownership of the underlying securities.
GTN deal and the next markets on Kraken's list
In July, Payward signed a partnership with GTN to add non-US equities to the xStocks system. Plans set out in that agreement start with Hong Kong-listed shares, followed by securities from South Korea, the United Kingdom, and other markets as licenses and regulatory approvals are secured jurisdiction by jurisdiction. GTN handles execution, custody, ledgering, and record-keeping across more than 90 financial markets, while Payward supplies the tokenization infrastructure. The partnership also sets out terms for GTN to distribute xStocks to institutional clients once the required approvals are in place in individual markets.
At the time of the July announcement, xStocks supported more than 500 tokenized assets. The product catalog now covers over 700 xStocks.
Kraken said it intends to take the combined stock and tokenized-equity service to additional markets beyond the EEA in the months ahead. Payward reported $508 million in adjusted revenue for the second quarter ended June 30, up 17% year over year, and adjusted EBITDA of $23 million for the same period. Total platform transaction volume fell 13% year over year to $310 billion, and Payward noted in its results that the composition of trading had shifted toward equities and tokenized equities during the quarter.
Gunel Ismayilova
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