Kraken has opened U.S. stock trading to eligible customers across the European Economic Area, allowing investors to manage traditional shares, tokenized xStocks, and crypto assets through a single regulated account and trading interface on its platform.

The exchange announced the expansion on August 18 after beginning the rollout in Germany, France, and the Netherlands. The service is now available to eligible customers across all EEA member countries through Kraken Pro’s app and website.

Kraken said users can access more than 7,000 U.S.-listed stocks, more than 700 xStocks, and around 600 crypto assets on the platform. The company also said no other crypto platform in the EEA offers both traditional U.S. shares and their tokenized versions in the same trading environment.

🚨𝗝𝗨𝗦𝗧 𝗜𝗡: Kraken now offers trading of 7,000+ U.S. stocks to eligible customers across the EEA. pic.twitter.com/At69VhJguV — DustyBC Crypto (@DustyBC) August 18, 2026

🚨𝗝𝗨𝗦𝗧 𝗜𝗡: Kraken now offers trading of 7,000+ U.S. stocks to eligible customers across the EEA. pic.twitter.com/At69VhJguV

Traditional shares and xStocks appear side by side, giving customers two ways to gain exposure to the same underlying companies. Payward Chief Commercial Officer Mark Greenberg said clients can move between the formats without transferring funds to another platform.

The stock service is provided by Payward Europe Digital Solutions (CY), an investment firm authorized under MiFID, the EU’s Markets in Financial Instruments Directive, which governs firms offering investment services such as share dealing. Kraken said it will not charge commission on U.S. stock trading, although spreads, currency conversion costs, and other fees may still apply. Commission-free U.S. equity trading is already common among European neobrokers such as Trading212 and Revolut, and Kraken’s offer extends that pricing model to an account that also holds tokenized stocks and crypto.

According to the company, access to U.S. stocks for European users has historically been expensive, complicated, and fragmented. Kraken said the new service combines U.S. stocks and digital assets in the same wallet.

Why Kraken Added xStocks as Trading Collateral

Kraken said total trading volume from xStocks has exceeded $38 billion since the product launched. The company also built dedicated onchain infrastructure for the product earlier in 2026, expanding the technical foundation behind tokenized equity trading. xStocks are tokenized versions of the shares, issued by Switzerland-based tokenization firm Backed, and first went live on Kraken in mid-2025.

In March, Kraken introduced xChange as an execution layer for its tokenized stock service. At launch, it supported more than 70 tokenized equities across the Ethereum and Solana networks. That buildout sits within a broader industry push to bring real-world assets onchain, a category that includes BlackRock’s tokenized money market fund issued on Ethereum.

In July, eligible users were allowed to use selected xStocks as collateral for futures and margin trades on Kraken Pro. Eligible xStocks include those of Apple, Nvidia, Tesla, Strategy, Robinhood, SPDR S&P 500 ETF, and Invesco QQQ ETF, along with ten others.

Eligible clients outside the United States, including those in the EEA, could use xStocks as futures collateral. Margin collateral was also available outside the U.S., but EEA clients were excluded from that service. That split between futures and margin collateral eligibility is one regional distinction that remains in place as the EEA rollout expands.

What Drives Kraken’s Multi-Asset Expansion

Kraken has also added a new in-app call verification system to help counter impersonation scams in which customers contact individuals claiming to be support agents.

The launch comes as regulated digital asset platforms in Europe continue to expand access to traditional financial products. Coinbase recently launched derivatives such as crypto futures, perpetuals, and options for professional U.K. traders after obtaining the relevant authorization from the FCA. In the EEA, crypto services operate under the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation, which applies across the bloc and allows authorized crypto-asset service providers to passport their authorizations between member states, while securities offerings such as the new stock service are governed by MiFID instead.

Kraken’s latest rollout adds U.S. stocks, tokenized stocks, and cryptocurrencies to the same platform as European regulations become stricter. The expansion further develops the exchange’s multi-asset approach by giving eligible regional clients access to multiple markets through one interface.