When the editorial team came up with the idea of treating Kraken as the main investment platform for a month – not only for crypto trading, but also for ETH staking and exposure to shares via xStocks – the reactions were divided. Half the team is skeptical, half is curious. A month later, we can say one thing: it was not boring.
Why Kraken?
Kraken is not a new player in this game. The exchange has been operating since 2011 and has experienced all crypto-cycles – from the ICO madness, through multi-year bear markets, to the current era of institutionalization and tokenization of real assets. However, over the last 18 months, the company has done something that really deserves attention: it has moved beyond crypto.
The acquisitions speak for themselves. NinjaTrader for USD 1.5 billion, Small Exchange for USD 100 million, and in December 2025, the key acquisition of Backed Finance – the company behind the xStocks product. In addition, the launch of the Krak payment application, supporting transfers in over 160 countries and over 300 assets. In February 2026, Magna was acquired, and in April – Bitnomial, a regulated derivatives exchange with a CFTC license, which opens the door for Kraken to the fully regulated futures market in the US.
ETH STAKING – PASSIVE INCOME OR AN ILLUSION?
April 2026 is not an impressive chapter for Ethereum. ETH fluctuates around USD 2,300-2,320, which is a clear regression compared to the peak in August 2025, when the rate reached nearly USD 5,000. The depreciation was caused by several factors at once: macroeconomic pressure, recessionary fears fueled by the escalation of geopolitical tensions, the increase in Brent oil prices to USD 112 per barrel and the high-profile sale of ETH by the network’s co-founder Vitalik Buterin at the beginning of the year.
However, the market is not clear. Spot ETFs on ETH are doing much better than the price chart itself would suggest. In April 2026 alone, these products recorded inflows of USD 539 million, and by the end of the month they may exceed USD 800 million. BlackRock’s ETHA has grown to a portfolio worth USD 7.3 billion, and institutions such as Goldman Sachs, Citadel and Millennium Management are not slowing down in their purchases. Institutions are buying discreetly as the retail market nervously scans the charts. A classic of the genre.
How does ETH staking work on Kraken?
Kraken offers two Ethereum staking variants: Flexible and Bonded. The difference is simple, but fundamental to strategy.
Flexible staking allows you to withdraw funds at any time. You pay for this convenience with a lower rate of return – currently around 1% per year. Bonded staking locks ETH for the bonding period (14 days before the position begins to actively work), but offers higher rewards, reaching up to 2.6% APY according to the platform. Kraken charges a commission of 30% on the rewards earned – this is the amount already included in the presented APY, so the numbers visible in the application are “after commission”.
Rewards are paid weekly and automatically added to your staked balance – the effect of compound interest without the need for manual reinvestment. The lack of a minimum staking amount is another advantage: you can literally start with a fraction of ETH.
It is also worth mentioning a newer feature: ETH Restaking powered by the EigenLayer protocol, available from March 2026, although not yet for all regions. The mechanism allows for “double” involvement of staked ETH – you use it to secure not only the Ethereum network, but also additional decentralized applications called AVS (Actively Validated Services), in exchange for rewards in ETH, EIGEN and other ERC-20 tokens. It sounds attractive, but there is a “but” here. Restaking is associated with a longer unblocking period (minimum 7 days under the EigenLayer requirement) and with an increased risk of the so-called slashing. Validators must meet extended protocol conditions, and the penalty for violations is the loss of part of the collected funds. This is not a product for someone who puts smoothness and peace of sleep above everything else.
Editorial results after a month of ETH staking
We entered the experiment with a position of 5 ETH in the bonded variant. For a month – four cycles of weekly payouts – we collected rewards proportional to the assumed APY on an annual basis.
In absolute numbers: with an ETH exchange rate of approximately USD 2,300 and an APY of 2.6% per year, 5 ETH generates approximately 0.13 ETH rewards per year, or approximately USD 300. It’s around $25 a month. The amount is rather symbolic, but it is worth changing the perspective: ETH staking is a passive instrument, not an offer to make quick money. Its meaning is revealed only in the long-term horizon, when compound interest takes effect.
This month’s key observation: crypto staking in a falling ETH environment is more about mitigating losses than making money. If ETH drops by 20%, no staking bonus will fill this hole. Staking makes sense as part of a long-term strategy for holding assets – not as an instrument for generating real profit in the short term.
Staking verdict: the product works smoothly, the interface is transparent, punctual payouts, transparent commission. If you plan to hold ETH for a few years anyway, staking on Kraken is a sensible autopilot for a passive wallet. If you’re counting on exciting rates of return over the next few months, look elsewhere.
XSTOCKS – STOCK EXCHANGE IN YOUR POCKET, SHARES ON BLOCKCHAIN
xStocks are tokenized stocks and ETFs from American markets – such as Apple, Tesla, NVIDIA, Microsoft, Meta, Amazon, S&P 500, Nasdaq 100 – available as cryptographic tokens on the Solana blockchain (SPL tokens) and Ethereum (ERC-20). Each xStock is collateralized 1:1 by a real share, held by a regulated custodian in a structure insulated from the risk of issuer bankruptcy. Technically: tokens are managed by Backed Assets (JE) Limited, a company based in Jersey, part of the Kraken group since December 2025.
The product was launched on June 30, 2025 with an offer of 60 assets. By early 2026, the portfolio had grown to 100 tokenized instruments, and Kraken plans to exceed 500 by the end of the year. Available in over 110 countries, but not in the US, UK, Canada and Australia – regulations in these jurisdictions require the instrument to be registered as a security. Kraken declares active cooperation with regulators to gradually expand availability.
Where did such a project come from? Kraken Co-CEO Arjun Sethi put it bluntly: For the first time, people around the world can own and use tokenized stock like money – transfer it, hold it, pledge it for a loan – all from their own wallet, without intermediaries, without borders and without delays. Sounds ambitious. We check whether it delivers.
Numbers that make an impression
Since its launch in June 2025, xStocks has exceeded USD 25 billion in total transaction volume, of which over USD 3.5 billion is directly on-chain volume. The platform dominates the rankings of tokenized stocks: it represents 68% of the top-25 instruments by the number of unique holders (according to RWA.xyz) and controls 7 of the top 10 positions in the 24-hour volume charts on CoinMarketCap. In March 2026, the Talos institutional trading platform integrated xStocks, which opens the product to clients from the top end of the financial market.
At the same time, in February 2026, Kraken launched the world’s first perpetual futures contracts for tokenized stocks with regulated benchmarks, offering up to 20x leverage on indices (S&P 500, Nasdaq 100), gold and selected companies (NVDA, AAPL, TSLA, GOOGL and others). Available to eligible non-US customers in over 110 countries. This is a completely different level of advancement – and risk.
How did the editorial office trade?
We tested three items for a month: TSLAx (Tesla), NVDAx (NVIDIA) and SPYx (S&P 500 ETF). We deliberately chose a mix – a growth company with a history of high volatility, a chip giant with AI driving power and a defensive index as the anchor of the portfolio.
Executing the transaction is identical to traditional crypto trading on Kraken. You buy TSLAx the same way you buy BTC/USDT – there are more pairs, the interface is the same. Trading is available 24 hours a day, 5 days a week (weekend trading is being implemented, on-chain is already available), which gives a real advantage compared to standard stock exchange sessions. When the NYSE sleeps, you can react to the night’s news – without waiting for the market to open.
Dividends are taken into account by an automatic increase in the token balance – you do not receive physical transfers, but the token balance increases in proportion to the dividend paid. Shareholder rights – voting at general shareholders, pre-emptive rights – are not provided by xStocks. It’s a price display, not a tool for corporate activism. If voting at the general meeting is important to you, this is not the right instrument.
Kraken also offers up to 1% reward on selected tokenized shares while maintaining full price exposure. This is not a huge number, but combined with 24/5 trading and immediate settlement, it creates quite an interesting package of benefits for a passive investor.
GENERAL EXPERIENCES OF TRADING ON THE EXCHANGE WITH KRAKEN
After four weeks of intensive use, the editorial team has a consistent opinion: Kraken is a platform that clearly knows where it’s going and has the resources to get there. The interface is refined, the transaction execution time is unquestionable, and the product offer – a combination of crypto, staking and tokenized shares in one place – is something that was not available on the market a few years ago and is slowly ceasing to be an experiment and becoming mainstream.
ETH staking is what it is: a stable, boring, sensible tool for patient long-termists. xStocks is a bolder bet – and one that looks justified for now. USD 25 billion in volume since launch, domination in the rankings of unique holders and growing institutional integration are arguments that cannot be downplayed.
Will Kraken stay in the editorial portfolio for longer? Yes. The platform plans to expand xStocks to over 200 assets, ETH Restaking is to reach a wider group of users, and perpetual contracts for additional companies have already been announced. The material for the next test writes itself.
The material is for information purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. Investing in cryptocurrencies and tokenized financial instruments involves a high risk of loss of capital.
