Kraken brings US stock trading to European Economic Area customers

Crypto exchange Kraken has launched U.S. stock trading for eligible customers across the European Economic Area, expanding its equities business beyond the U.S.

The launch follows a recent limited rollout in Germany, the Netherlands and France, according to Kraken's website. "This has been quietly rolling out in recent days and will be fully live across the EEA from today," a Kraken spokesperson told The Block.

Kraken said the launch makes it the only crypto-native platform offering EEA customers both traditional U.S.-listed stocks and tokenized versions (xStocks) within one regulated account.

European crypto broker Bitpanda, for example, also offers trading in U.S. stocks but does not currently appear to allow customers to trade tokenized equities. Meanwhile, platforms such as Crypto.com and Robinhood offer tokenized U.S. stock products in Europe but do not appear to offer traditional share trading in the region.

"With U.S.-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, Kraken's parent company, and head of Payward Services, in a statement. 

Traditional shares and tokenized exposure

Kraken said EEA customers can trade more than 7,000 U.S. stocks as traditional shares in the same account as more than 600 crypto assets and over 700 xStocks. The company said xStocks have generated more than $38 billion in total transaction volume since their launch in June 2025.

The new EEA offering will be available through the desktop and mobile versions of Kraken Pro and the Kraken mobile app. Kraken said it will not charge trading commissions, subject to the applicable terms.

As for the eligibility criteria, customers will need to accept additional terms and conditions before they can trade stocks, the spokesperson said. Access will not appear automatically for every existing Kraken EEA customer.

The service is provided by Payward Europe Digital Solutions (CY) Limited, a Cyprus investment firm authorized under the European Union's Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II, or MiFID II, Kraken said.

Kraken further said it plans to bring the combined stock and tokenized-equity service to additional markets in the coming months.

Tokenized equities' share of the real-world asset (RWA) market has risen to 15%, three times its level at the start of the year, while the segment's total market capitalization is about $2.8 billion, as The Block reported earlier this week. It has been one of the few RWA categories to record growth as interest in onchain equity trading has increased. Ondo Finance, Binance's bStocks and Kraken's xStocks collectively account for 77% of the segment.

Kraken's parent Payward last week reported second-quarter adjusted revenue of $508 million, up 17% year over year, and adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) of $23 million for the quarter ended June 30. Total platform transaction volume fell 13% year over year to $310 billion, with the mix shifting toward equities and tokenized equities.