Eli Nuss

Today, we are announcing that Backed will become part of @krakenfx. For us, this moment represents the culmination of a long and demanding journey, one shaped by a clear vision, guided by discipline, and driven by a small group of people who believed that equities deserved an open, global, onchain future. Backed was founded in 2021 with an ambitious idea: if the internet has a native currency, it should also have native capital markets. At the time, the space for onchain equities barely existed, and yet the direction was clear to us. Just as stablecoins transformed how money moves online, tokenized equities would one day transform how people access markets. We built Backed around this conviction. Over the years, this small but mighty team has always punched above its weight. Across engineering, operations, marketing, compliance, and product, this group designed and built a tokenization engine adopted by leading exchanges, wallets, and protocols. The work required navigating regulation that was and is still evolving and building operational systems from first principles, all while maintaining reliability. There were difficult phases, periods of low market activity, operational constraints, and moments when progress demanded hard decisions. Through all of it, the team continued to deliver. The team’s commitment and technical excellence built the foundations that made this milestone possible. To everyone on the team, past and present, thank you. Our investors and early supporters were critical. They believed in this mission when the category was still undefined, supported us through pivots, market cycles, and the long road to regulatory and product readiness. Their patience and conviction allowed us to stay focused on building something durable rather than chasing short-term trends, and led us to where we are today. A special thanks goes to the @gnosis_ team, who supported us well beyond the role of investors at crucial moments. The launch of @xStocksFi earlier this year was a turning point. For the first time, tokenized equities became available at scale, with more than 60 assets on day one on Kraken, deep liquidity on @solana, and global access. Adoption grew rapidly. Holders increased almost tenfold to more than 84,000, daily transaction volume exceeded 30 million dollars, total volumes crossed 12 billion dollars, and AUM reached 175 million dollars. xStocks expanded into major DeFi applications, new exchanges, and multiple chains. This confirmed what we believed from the start: global, 24/7 equities on open rails are inevitable. But to bring this to millions of users, tokenized equities require global distribution, regulatory depth, and operational scale. Our work with Kraken began long before this acquisition. From the earliest design sessions to the rollout and expansion of xStocks, we found strong alignment, a belief in accessible markets, transparent infrastructure, and a long-term approach to building financial rails. Kraken’s platform, regulatory experience, and global reach made them the right partner from the beginning. Now we unite for the next stage. Joining forces is not a shift in mission, it is an expansion of what is now possible. As part of Kraken, we will accelerate the adoption of tokenized equities to a far broader audience. We will work to ensure xStocks become as accessible and composable as stablecoins, operating across exchanges, wallets, and applications used every day. The mission remains the same: to make financial assets open, efficient, and easy to access. With Kraken, we can pursue it at a global scale. To everyone who has been part of this journey, team, investors, partners, and users, thank you. Your support carried us through the most demanding stages and made this milestone possible. We are proud of what was built at Backed and excited for what comes next as part of Kraken. The mission continues. The scale evolves. Onwards.

Introducing xStocks ❎ A new line of tokenized assets to transform the way people interact with finance, with over 50 stocks and ETFs soon available on @krakenfx and @solana. No borders, no brokers, no barriers. In your wallet to own, integrated with DeFi to use, boundless to grow. xStocks are designed for access and composability, bringing the stock market within reach of users around the world through the blockchain. Follow @xStocksFi for updates.