Kraken announces expansion beyond crypto to stock and forex perpetual futures markets

April 14, 2025 — Kraken, one of the largest U.S.-based crypto exchanges, announced that it is expanding well beyond its digital asset root.

The company has launched trading for U.S.-listed stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and forex perpetual futures, marking a major diversification of its platform.

Starting this week, select U.S. clients in ten states — including New Jersey, Connecticut, and Alabama — can now trade over 11,000 commission-free U.S.-listed stocks and ETFs.

Kraken describes this as the beginning of a "phased national rollout," with plans to extend the equities offering to more states and eventually international markets such as the UK, Europe, and Australia.

In a separate announcement on April 18, 2025, Kraken launched forex perpetual futures through its Kraken Derivatives platform.

The first available pairs, EUR/USD and GBP/USD, offer up to 20x leverage. The exchange already has a solid footprint in the FX spot market, reporting $5.4 billion in volume so far this year, with $3.5 billion in EUR/USD and GBP/USD trades alone.

These strategic moves come as Kraken reportedly prepares for a potential IPO in Q1 2026.

The firm also appears to be resolving past regulatory issues. Last month, Kraken announced that the U.S. SEC had agreed “in principle” to dismiss its 2023 lawsuit, which accused the exchange of operating as an unregistered securities platform.

Kraken’s push into traditional finance signals a broader trend in the crypto sector, bridging the gap between digital assets and conventional markets similar to what Robinhood does.