Kraken’s xStocks Brings Tokenized US Shares to TON and Telegram

[Ben Graham]

Kraken backed platform xStocks launched on the TON crypto blockchain, letting Telegram users outside the US trade tokenized versions of US stocks and ETFs directly inside the chat app. The move adds a new on-chain venue to an already crowded race for tokenized stocks, where Solana and Ethereum hosts already hold around $180M in xStocks assets across nearly 50,000 wallets.

This aligns with a 2025 trend, where everything from money-market funds to blue-chip stocks is now appearing on blockchains, as traditional finance experiments with crypto rails for globalised 24/7 liquidity.

What is xStocks on TON and Why Should You Care?

xStocks offers tokenized equities, crypto tokens that mirror real stocks or ETFs. Think of each token as a “claim ticket” that tracks the price of a real share, similar to how a gift card balance represents money in a bank account. xStocks already runs on Solana and Ethereum, and now taps into TON and Telegram’s massive user base.

TON is the blockchain that connects deeply with Telegram, the messaging app with over a billion users. By launching on TON, xStocks enables Telegram users outside the US to trade on-chain stocks directly within a chat interface, eliminating the need to log in to a traditional broker. For beginners, this feels less like Wall Street and more like sending a message to a friend.

Kraken’s backing matters because it adds a recognizable crypto brand to a space that was previously dominated by smaller, anonymous projects. This launch also follows earlier Telegram wallet experiments that offered 35 tokenized stocks like Coinbase (COINX) and Robinhood (HOODX). You now see the same story play out across platforms, from Kraken IPO buzz to Robinhood’s own tokenized stock push in Europe.

For a regular user, the big shift is access. You no longer need a traditional brokerage account in your home country to get price exposure to US stocks. You can hold these tokens in a self-custody wallet instead of parking everything with a broker, similar to how you hold your own Bitcoin.

But don’t be mistaken, everyday investors, the fine print is vital. Unlike owning a share through a broker, xStocks tokens grant you creditor rights to the collateral held by custodians in Switzerland and Jersey. So it’s important to understand, you are essentially betting on the legal solidity of Kraken’s vault as much as you are on the price of Nvidia or Apple.

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Does Telegram Native Trading Change Everything for Tokenization Race?

Tokenized stocks on TON are part of a larger trend called RWA tokenization, which involves putting “real-world assets” like stocks, funds, or bonds onto blockchains. It’s the same direction we see with JPMorgan’s tokenized money-market fund, which Barron’s framed as a collision between Wall Street and crypto. Platforms battle over who becomes the default place to hold these on-chain claims.

Competition is heating up. Robinhood launched tokenized stocks for EU customers in mid-2025. On the crypto-native side, xStocks is spread across Solana, Ethereum, and now TON, echoing the multi-chain tokenization of assets race we already see in DeFi.

Each chain offers different trade-offs: Solana focuses on speed, Ethereum provides the deepest liquidity and DeFi integrations, and TON integrates with Telegram’s chat-first experience. For everyday investors, this means more choice but also more fragmentation and more homework. Your tokenized stocks on one chain do not automatically appear on another.

Traditional finance players like JPMorgan, Visa, and major brokers now build on-chain products, similar to what we covered with large banks’ institutionelle Adoption. Kraken’s xStocks launch on TON shows that crypto exchanges also want a piece of that RWA market, especially where they can plug into massive audiences like Telegram.

But critically, while the TON launch is the headline, the real story is Kraken’s move to verticalize the entire ‘trust’ stack. Following its December 2 acquisition of Backed Finance, Kraken now controls the issuance, trading, and settlement of these tokens, effectively removing the third-party issuer risk that usually plagues synthetic stock products

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Will Tokenized Stocks on Telegram Create New Risks?

This all sounds convenient, but it is not a free lunch. Tokenized stocks depend on a legal and technical bridge between the token and the real asset. If anything breaks—regulation, custody, or the issuing company—you might own a token that no longer tracks the real share.

Regulation matters here. US users are currently excluded from this particular Telegram rollout for a reason. Different countries treat tokenized stocks very differently, and rules can change fast. You do not get the same protections that you expect from a fully regulated stockbroker in every jurisdiction.

There is also the usual risk associated with the crypto stack. You rely on the blockchain (TON), the smart contracts, the issuer of the tokenized stock, and your own wallet security. A bug, hack, or shutdown at any layer can lock or wipe value. Self-custody gives you control, but it also makes you responsible for mistakes.

So how should you approach it? Treat tokenized stocks like a hybrid between a broker account and a DeFi position. Use only money you can afford to lose. Spread risk across platforms and avoid parking your entire equity portfolio inside a chat app simply because it feels convenient.

xStocks on TON shows where finance heads next: more assets, more chains, more ways to trade from your phone. Your edge comes from understanding that convenience and yield always ride alongside new types of risk, not instead of them.

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