Crypto exchange Kraken has launched what it calls the world’s first regulated perpetual futures on tokenized U.S. stocks. To understand why this matters, think of perpetual futures as a bet on whether a stock’s price will go up or down—except, unlike a normal bet, this one never expires. You can hold it for a day, a month, or a year, and close it whenever you want. No deadlines, no rollovers. It’s the kind of trading tool that’s been popular in crypto for years, and Kraken is now bringing it to stocks like Nvidia, Apple, and the S&P 500 for the first time in a regulated way.
The products, named NVDAx, AAPLx, and SPYx, are built on Kraken’s xStocks platform, which the company developed after buying a firm called Backed Finance late last year. Think of them as digital stand-ins for real stocks. Each token tracks the price of the actual share, so if Nvidia goes up 5%, so does NVDAx.
What makes this different from simply buying stocks? A few things. First, you can start with as little as $1, making it accessible to people who cannot afford a full share of a company like Nvidia. Second, there is no expiry date—unlike traditional futures contracts that run out after a set period, these go on indefinitely, much like how crypto trading works. Third, you can use crypto as collateral instead of dollars.
The catch is that holders do not get voting rights in those companies, and the products come with leverage—meaning you can potentially gain or lose more than your initial investment. Kraken is upfront about that risk.
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For now, the service is only available to eligible customers who are based outside of the U.S., spanning over 110 countries, through Kraken Pro and its mobile app.
Kraken’s head of derivatives, Mark Greenberg, described it as rebuilding traditional financial markets for a crypto-first generation—one that expects markets to be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, not just during Wall Street hours.
