Key facts
- Kraken now accepts tokenized stocks and ETFs as collateral for futures and margin trading.
- The feature is available to eligible users outside the United States.
- Initially, 10 tokenized assets are supported, including Apple, Nvidia, and the SPDR S&P 500 ETF.
- Collateral haircuts and limits are applied based on asset risk and type.
- This move expands the financial utility of tokenized real-world assets.
Crypto exchange Kraken has introduced a new feature allowing eligible users to utilize select tokenized stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) as collateral for futures and margin trading. This development enables traders to leverage their positions without needing to sell their underlying holdings.
The platform initially supports 10 tokenized assets, including major technology stocks like Apple, Nvidia, and Tesla, alongside broad-market ETFs such as the SPDR S&P 500 ETF and Invesco QQQ Trust. Each accepted asset is assigned a collateral haircut, a risk-based reduction in its lending value, with more volatile stocks facing larger discounts than diversified ETFs.
Kraken has also implemented collateral limits, capping broad-market ETFs at $1 million and most individual stocks at $250,000. These limits and haircuts are subject to periodic review and potential changes. The feature is exclusively available to eligible clients outside the United States, with specific regional availability for futures and margin collateral support.
This move by Kraken aligns with a broader trend of increasing the financial utility of tokenized real-world assets. Recent initiatives include Franklin Templeton and Binance's program for tokenized money market fund shares and BlackRock's tokenized US Treasury fund being accepted as collateral on various platforms. The total distributed value of tokenized real-world assets has reached approximately $32.6 billion, with tokenized stocks alone valued at around $2 billion.