Under the transaction, Backed (the group behind the xStocks tokenized-equities product) will become fully integrated into Kraken’s global platform — unifying issuance, trading and settlement of tokenized equities under a single infrastructure.

Since Backed’s incorporation in 2021, MLL Legal has provided ongoing legal advice covering many financing rounds, regulatory compliance and the tokenization and issuance of over 130 products. We are honoured to have supported Backed throughout its entire journey, culminating in the acquisition by Kraken that further advances the global adoption of tokenized equities.

The acquisition reinforces Kraken’s commitment to transforming capital-markets infrastructure by bringing real-world assets on-chain. With xStocks already offering exposure to tokenized equities and ETFs backed 1:1 by underlying assets, and having recently surpassed US $10 billion in combined exchange and on-chain trading volume within six months of launch, this transaction marks a major milestone for the broader tokenization movement.

The MLL Legal team advising Backed on this transaction consisted of Karin Oberlin (Partner, Corporate & Venture Capital), Reto Luthiger (Partner, Regulatory / FinTech / DLT), Christian Wasser (Counsel, Tax), Jérôme Pidoux (Counsel, Banking & Finance), Philipp Estermann (Senior Associate, Corporate & M&A) and Jutta Triches (Associate, Tax).

MLL Legal extends its heartfelt congratulations to the founders, management and entire Backed team for having built a pioneering, compliant and scalable infrastructure that broke important new ground for real-world asset tokenization. We remain enthusiastic about the next phase of growth under Kraken’s umbrella, and proud to have been part of this transformative journey from inception to exit.