Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken has expanded beyond digital assets to offer U.S. stock and ETF trading, as the company seeks to venture outside of crypto markets.
According to the company’s Monday announcement, Kraken has begun rolling out commission-free trading for more than 11,000 listed stocks and ETFs to clients in select states, including New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island and seven others. The company plans to eventually make the offering available to all eligible U.S. clients before expanding to Europe and Australia.
This push into traditional markets shows how crypto exchanges are now directly challenging Wall Street firms, as the boundaries between digital assets and conventional investments continue to fade.
The new offering may help clients to manage all their investments in one place. “Crypto isn’t just evolving, it’s becoming the backbone for trading across asset classes, such as equities, commodities, and currencies. As demand for 24/7 global access grows, clients want a seamless, all-in-one trading experience,” Arjun Sethi, Kraken’s co-CEO, said in the press release.
Kraken’s expansion follows a broader trend among U.S. crypto exchanges looking to diversify their offerings and compete with established platforms like Nasdaq and Robinhood.
The new service allows Kraken users to manage stocks, crypto, cash and stablecoins in one place. The company will offer fractional trading on more than half of the newly listed assets, enabling traders to purchase portions of high-priced stocks.
As Sethi explained in the company’s blog, “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.”
The equity trading service is powered by Kraken Securities, a FINRA-regulated division of the company dedicated to delivering equity trading services, according to Kraken’s blog post.
The timing aligns with shifting regulatory dynamics for crypto companies. Kraken recently announced a resolution with securities regulators, with the company stating in March that the Securities and Exchange Commission had agreed in principle to drop its lawsuit without penalties or business model changes.
The stock trading expansion follows Kraken’s business diversification efforts, which included its purchase of futures trading platform NinjaTrader for $1.5 billion last month, according to a company release.
