Tokenized Shares of Solana Treasury Company Defi Dev Coming to Kraken

DeFi Development Corp. (DFDV), the Nasdaq-listed firm with a crypto treasury strategy focused on Solana SOL, is bringing its equity onto blockchain rails through crypto exchange Kraken’s upcoming tokenized stock trading venue.

The company’s shares will be tokenized under the ticker DFDVx on the Solana network, joining a select group of tokenized versions of major stocks like Apple and Tesla on Kraken’s upcoming xStocks platform, a Monday press release said.

In practice, a developer might integrate DFDVx into a decentralized finance (DeFi) application, allowing users to hold, trade, or even borrow against shares of a Nasdaq-listed company directly on a blockchain. CEO Joseph Onorati called the tokenized equity “a DeFi lego block,” suggesting that it could serve as a building block for more complex financial instruments.

The listing comes as interest in tokenization of real-world asset (RWA) such as equities, funds and real estate is rising. Tokenization allows traditional financial products to trade around-the-clock, settle faster and develop use cases in decentralized finance (DeFi) applications. It’s potentially a massive opportunity: the market size of all tokenized RWAs could reach $18.9 trillion by 2033 with on-chain equities being one of the main group of assets, according to a report by BCG and Ripple. Rival exchange Coinbase reportedly also seeks regulatory approval to offer tokenized stock trading.

“We view the tokenization of our stock as a DeFi lego block, one that developers and institutions can build on top of,” said Joseph Onorati, CEO of DeFi Dev.

“As part of the xStocks alliance, we have seen incredible demand for access to US equities; the crypto community is excited for on-chain access to crypto treasury strategy companies like DFDV,” said Val Gui, general manager of xStocks for Kraken.