Wallet in Telegram says it will soon offer tokenized US stocks in partnership with Kraken and Backed. The move is expected to expand the market for US equities to emerging markets. The company explains that approximately 2.8 billion people are underbanked, with only limited access to basic financial services, and another 1.5 billion remain entirely unbanked.
Kraken is a well-established crypto exchange.
Backed is a Swiss-based company that enables permissionless tokens tracking the value of publicly listed equities and ETFs. Its flagship product line, xStocks, provides 1:1-backed tokenized equities available across multiple blockchain ecosystems.
The new marketplace, featuring stocks and ETFs, will begin rolling out in October through the custodial Crypto Wallet, with subsequent expansion to the self-custodial TON Wallet in the coming months. The company states that over 60 tokenized equities and ETFs will become available.
With over 100 million signed-up users worldwide, Wallet in Telegram predicts that it will become one of the largest consumer platforms to integrate tokenized equities.
Andrew Rogozov, Founder and CEO of The Open Platform (TOP) and Wallet in Telegram, said they are “shattering walls” of traditional finance, and Telegram users will be able to access tokenized shares of top US firms.
“Our mission is simple – open access to global financial instruments for 1B Telegram users, using crypto and DeFi, turning everyday conversations into opportunities to participate in global markets.”
The company states that for each purchase order, Backed acquires the underlying asset before minting a corresponding token on-chain, ensuring every xStock remains collateralized 1:1. Since launch, xStocks reports that it has surpassed $4.5 billion in combined CEX and DEX transaction volume.
Arjun Sethi, co-CEO of Kraken, described the partnership as “collapsing the distance between traditional markets and everyday users.”