Kraken Enables EU Users to Hold US Equities & Crypto

Kraken announced the launch of US-listed stock trading across the European Economic Area this week. Eligible customers can now trade over 7,000 US equities through Kraken Pro on desktop and mobile, as well as the standard Kraken mobile app.

Stocks, Crypto, and Tokenized Shares in One Account

The platform now brings together three distinct asset categories under one roof:

• Over 7,000 US-listed stocks
• More than 600 crypto assets
• Over 700 xStocks, tokenized versions of US equities backed 1:1 by underlying shares

Because xStocks are fully collateralized, users can hold traditional shares and their tokenized equivalents side by side in the same account, without needing separate brokerages or wallets to manage each asset type.

The MiFID II License Behind the Move

The new service runs under Kraken’s Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II (MiFID II) authorization. Payward Europe Digital Solutions (CY) Limited, Kraken’s Cyprus-based entity, provides the service as a CySEC-licensed European investment firm. This regulatory backing is what allows Kraken to offer traditional securities trading legally across EEA member states.

Commission-Free, But Not Cost-Free

Kraken says eligible EEA customers can trade US-listed stocks without paying commissions. Spreads and foreign exchange costs may still apply, so the trade itself carries no direct fee, but currency conversion and bid-ask spreads remain part of the cost structure.

Breaking Down the Access Barrier

Accessing US capital markets has historically been complicated for non-US investors, often requiring separate brokerage accounts, currency conversion steps, and regulatory hurdles specific to each country. Kraken’s integrated platform aims to remove much of that friction in one move.

Mark Greenberg, Chief Commercial Officer of Payward, said the launch eliminates the artificial divide between asset formats. Customers can now choose whichever access method suits them, whether that’s holding the underlying share directly or its tokenized equivalent, while getting the same underlying market exposure either way.

Kraken’s expansion reflects a broader trend of crypto platforms moving into traditional finance rather than staying confined to digital assets. The company plans to extend this integrated equities offering to additional markets in the coming months.

Hashlytics Take

The interesting part isn’t that Kraken added stock trading. It’s that they built the choice architecture around asset format rather than asset class. Most platforms make you pick a lane: crypto exchange or brokerage. Kraken is betting that the real friction was never crypto versus stocks, it was needing two separate accounts to hold economically identical exposure. If regulators stay comfortable with tokenized equities running alongside traditional shares under one MiFID II license, this becomes a template other exchanges will copy fast.