Kraken Breaks Wall Street Barrier: Launches U.S. Stock Trading Ahead of IPO

The new feature is available through Kraken Securities, the company’s FINRA-regulated brokerage arm. Initially limited to clients in ten U.S. jurisdictions — including New Jersey, Connecticut, Wyoming, and Alabama — Kraken plans to expand access across the United States and later internationally, targeting markets in the U.K., Europe, and Australia.

Kraken now enables users to trade equities and ETFs alongside crypto assets through its mobile app, web platform, and Kraken Pro interface. Importantly, the offering supports fractional share purchases, allowing users to buy a portion of high-value stocks — such as Tesla, Amazon, or Nvidia — for as little as $1. This democratizes access to the stock market and aligns with a broader trend of retail-focused investing tools.

“Expanding into equities is a natural step for us, and paves the way for the tokenization of assets. The future of trading is borderless, always on and built on crypto rails.” said Kraken co-CEO Arjun Sethi.

Sethi emphasized that the trading experience will reflect the principles of the crypto ecosystem: borderless access, 24/7 functionality, and financial self-custody. The expansion also aligns with Kraken's long-term goal of facilitating asset tokenization — a process in which real-world assets like equities are represented and traded as digital tokens on blockchain infrastructure.

Kraken’s move comes at a pivotal moment for crypto exchanges, many of which are seeking to diversify revenue streams amid uncertain market conditions and increased regulatory scrutiny. Rival platforms like Robinhood and Public have already integrated crypto into their traditional equity trading platforms, but Kraken is taking the opposite route — bringing traditional finance into a crypto-first ecosystem.

The expansion into equities also bolsters Kraken’s IPO narrative. The company has been exploring the possibility of going public for several years, but executives have reiterated that the decision will depend on market conditions and strategic alignment.

Kraken’s latest initiative comes amid a friendlier regulatory environment in the United States. Under President Trump’s second-term administration, financial regulators have softened their tone on digital assets and fintech innovation. The SEC, under Acting Chair Mark Uyeda, has even proposed a regulatory sandbox tailored to crypto startups — signaling a shift away from punitive enforcement toward collaborative oversight.

This pro-innovation stance has emboldened companies like Kraken to pursue more ambitious product roadmaps that bridge traditional and decentralized finance.

With its equities launch, Kraken joins a growing cohort of crypto-native firms aiming to capture a broader share of the retail financial market. The company is also rumored to be exploring stablecoin offerings and tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) — particularly in jurisdictions with robust regulatory clarity, such as the UAE and Singapore.

As it expands its footprint beyond crypto, Kraken remains focused on its core ethos: building an open, borderless financial system powered by blockchain technology. The stock and ETF rollout marks just the beginning of what Kraken executives describe as a much larger vision.