xStocks

xStocks is a tokenized equities platform that brings US stocks and ETFs onchain as tokens backed 1:1 by real shares held in regulated custody, enabling permissionless 24/7 trading across Solana and six other blockchains for investors in 110+ countries.

What xStocks Does

Each xStock is a blockchain token that represents one share of a publicly traded US company or ETF. The naming convention appends an x to the ticker symbol, so Apple becomes AAPLx, Nvidia becomes NVDAx, and Tesla becomes TSLAx. As of mid-2026, xStocks covers 168 stocks and ETFs, including seven Franklin Templeton ETFs tokenized through a formal partnership announced in May 2026.

The platform is operated by Backed Assets (JE) Limited, the legal issuer. Distribution runs through Payward Digital Solutions Ltd. (Bermuda) and Payward Europe Digital Solutions (Cyprus), the latter a MiFID II regulated entity. Kraken acquired Backed Finance in December 2025, making xStocks a core part of Kraken's expanding real-world asset strategy.

How Tokenization Works

The minting process involves three steps. First, Backed Finance acquires actual shares through traditional brokers and deposits them with a regulated custodian. Second, for each share held in custody, exactly one corresponding token is minted on the relevant blockchain. Third, Chainlink price feeds provide real-time pricing and handle corporate actions such as dividends, which are automatically reinvested into the underlying share pool rather than distributed as cash.

On Solana, xStocks use the SPL Token Extensions standard rather than the basic SPL token spec. This grants each token a richer compliance and operational feature set. The Metadata Pointer links each token to verifiable off-chain information about the underlying asset. Scaled UI Amount Config handles stock splits without requiring expensive onchain token migrations. Pausable Config allows emergency freezing of transfers. Permanent Delegate enables regulatory seizure if required by a court order. Transfer Hook and Blocklist enforce jurisdiction-based compliance controls at the transfer level. Confidential Balances provide a privacy-preserving transfer infrastructure that is implemented but currently disabled.

Tokens are redeemable at any time for equivalent cash value, which Backed processes through its regulated entity. The platform accepts fractional purchases from as little as one dollar.

Solana as the Primary Chain

xStocks launched on Solana on June 30, 2025, and Solana quickly became the dominant venue for tokenized stock trading. By October 2025, Solana held 99 percent of global tokenized stock trading volume. Tokenized stocks on Solana generated 4.9 billion dollars in volume during the first half of 2026, a sixfold increase over the 775 million dollars recorded in the second half of 2025, and 5.77 billion dollars in Q2 2026 alone, with approximately 96 percent market share across chains.

Total platform-wide volume has exceeded 35 billion dollars since launch. By January 2026, onchain TVL was approximately 196 million dollars, with 182 million dollars of that on Solana.

xStocks subsequently expanded to Ethereum, BNB Smart Chain, Mantle, TON, and Ink, with additional chains in progress. In December 2025, Backed and Chainlink jointly announced xBridge, a cross-chain bridge that lets users move tokenized stocks between Solana and Ethereum.

DeFi Integrations on Solana

A core design principle of xStocks is composability: the tokens are intended to function natively within DeFi without any special permissions. On Solana, this has translated into a broad set of live integrations. Raydium serves as the primary automated market maker for xStock liquidity pools and Jupiter aggregates the best prices across venues. Orca and PancakeSwap on Solana offer additional liquidity for major xStock pairs. Kamino Finance integrated xStocks as collateral, allowing holders to borrow against their tokenized equity positions. Morpho is also listed as a DeFi integration. Hermetica Finance integrated STRCx, a tokenized Strategy share, into USDh, a yield-bearing stablecoin, adding equity exposure to the stablecoin backing. Phantom and Solflare support xStocks natively. Bitget Wallet added xStocks access for its 90 million self-custodial users in May 2026.

On the centralized exchange side, Kraken and Bybit were launch partners when the product went live. Gate.io, Bitget, and OKX have since integrated the tokens. In February 2026, Kraken launched the first regulated tokenized equity perpetual futures using xStocks as the underlying.

Notable Listings

xStocks has positioned itself as a day-one tokenization partner for major market events. When SpaceX debuted on the Nasdaq on June 12, 2026, tokenized SpaceX shares went live on Solana the same day. On July 10, 2026, SK Hynix, one of the largest memory chip makers and a primary HBM supplier to Nvidia, listed on Nasdaq and xStocks tokenized it on the day of the listing. In June 2026, xStocks announced tokenized IPO access for retail investors globally, extending the platform's day-one listing model to private companies going public.

Access and Jurisdictions

xStocks is available in 110-plus countries. US, UK, Canadian, and Australian residents are explicitly excluded, as are users in sanctioned jurisdictions. The MiFID II regulatory framework covering EU users is managed through the Cyprus entity, Payward Europe Digital Solutions.

Ecosystem Significance

xStocks is the largest tokenized equities platform by volume and market share and the project most directly responsible for Solana capturing and maintaining dominance in the tokenized stock sector. Eight of the fifteen largest tokenized stocks by value are issued by the Payward group as of mid-2026. The platform demonstrates that the Solana Token Extensions standard, combined with regulated custody infrastructure and DeFi composability, can serve as credible infrastructure for bringing traditional financial assets onchain at scale.