Kraken Lets Traders Post Tokenized Nvidia, Apple Shares as Futures Margin

Kraken has started letting international traders use tokenized stocks and ETFs as collateral for crypto futures and margin positions. The exchange said the move lets holders keep their equity exposure while opening leveraged crypto bets.

The initial list covers 10 tokenized securities – Apple, Nvidia, Tesla, Strategy, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF, and Invesco QQQ Trust among them. Broad-market ETFs get the lightest haircut at 10%. More volatile names like Strategy and Robinhood carry a 30% discount on their collateral value.

Kraken set per-asset caps as well. Index funds top out at $1 million in collateral value. Single stocks are capped at $250,000. Tokenized gold and Circle equity tokens max out at $100,000. The exchange said it will review those limits periodically and adjust them by market conditions.

US-based traders cannot use the feature at all. Within the European Economic Area, qualified clients can pledge tokenized securities only against futures contracts. Traders in other approved jurisdictions outside the EEA can apply them toward margin as well. Kraken said it will keep assessing where to expand geographically as rules change.

The move follows a string of similar tokenized-collateral launches. Franklin Templeton teamed with Binance in February to let institutional clients pledge tokenized money-market fund units. BlackRock's BUIDL Treasury token is already accepted on Binance, Crypto.com, and Deribit for margin. Tradeweb said last week it completed what it called the first real-time tokenized Treasury trade settled with tokenized cash on the Canton Network.

Data from RWA.xyz pegs the broader tokenized real-world-asset market at roughly $32.6 billion in total distributed value. The tokenized equity slice alone has grown to about $2 billion, up from $381 million a year earlier.

Kraken also recently worked with Maple on an onchain warehouse financing structure for institutional crypto lending. That deal lets the exchange scale its lending through blockchain-based structured credit.

For tokenized stock holders, the new feature offers a way to keep their positions liquid without selling. It also broadens the collateral pool in crypto derivatives markets, which have historically run mostly on crypto or fiat deposits. The exchange said both the collateral ceilings and the roster of accepted securities are likely to grow, without giving specific timing.