The days of Wall Street watching blockchain are over. I. What Happened On March 8, 2026, a quiet but historic announcement was made. Nasdaq and Payward, the operator of Kraken, joined forces. Their goal was simple: to convert Nasdaq-listed stocks into blockchain tokens and integrate them into the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem. The engine of this collaboration is xStocks, a framework built on Solana that tokenizes real-world stocks on a 1:1 basis. In less than a year since its launch, total trading volume has surpassed $25 billion, with on-chain payments reaching $4 billion. The number of unique holders has surpassed 85,000. This isn't an experiment. The market is already responding. II. Why This Matters When stocks become tokens, they become more than just "certificates of ownership"; they become programmable financial instruments. Imagine holding one share of Apple stock in your Solana wallet. From that moment on, that stock: * Instantly tradable 24/7 * Can be used as collateral for DeFi protocols * Can be freely invested in derivatives and liquidity pools * Instantly settled on-chain with T+0 settlement, instead of the T+2 settlement of traditional finance. In the traditional financial system, capital moved slowly. It had to go through intermediaries, wait for settlement dates, and there were high walls between markets. xStocks is building a highway through that wall. III. Solana's Benefits and Jupiter This raises a key question: "If Nasdaq stocks were traded on Solana, who would be the largest broker in the Solana ecosystem?" My answer is Jupiter. Jupiter is Solana's largest DEX aggregator. A significant portion of the token trading liquidity on Solana flows through Jupiter. As xStocks tokens are actively traded in the Solana ecosystem, Jupiter's trading volume and fee income naturally increase. However, Jupiter recently went a step further. Through Jupiter Global, they launched virtual fiat accounts based on the US dollar (USD), British pound (GBP), and euro (EUR), and announced infrastructure that enables remittances to over 200 countries via SWIFT. Cash withdrawals of up to $10,000 per transaction are also included in the 2026 roadmap. To summarize: * Nasdaq stocks → xStocks tokenization → landing on Solana's on-chain platform * These tokens are traded and liquidated through Jupiter * Profits are then withdrawn back to the real world through Jupiter Global's fiat account. This isn't just a DeFi story. It's a structure that connects traditional finance and on-chain finance in a single pipeline. IV. The Bigger Picture Solana was chosen for its clear reasons: Speed of processing, low fees, and proven liquidity infrastructure. Nasdaq and Payward's choice of this ecosystem isn't just a simple partnership announcement; it's a declaration that "the next-generation financial infrastructure will be built on Solana." If you still view Solana as a speculative chain, it's time to reconsider. Nasdaq is riding on Solana. Jupiter is connecting liquidity on top of it. Trillions of dollars in traditional finance are poised to flow through this pipeline. This isn't a story of the future. It's happening now.

I thought it would be helpful to read Mr. Kobak's article as well, so I brought it here. x.com/100y_eth/status/20312725...… Indirect Tokenization Models Are Fading Away @Nasdaq recently announced plans to build an infrastructure for tokenized equities. With this announcement, Nasdaq outlined four key goals: Maintain control: Shareholder rights and the regulatory framework will remain unchanged after tokenization. Operational automation: Voting, dividends, investor communications, and corporate actions will be processed through smart contracts. 24/7 global trading: The goal is to create a marketplace where investors around the world can trade without time constraints. Permissionless market connectivity: Build a bridge between traditional financial markets and onchain markets. Nasdaq's tokenized stocks will be legally equivalent to traditional stocks, and the system will be connected to the DTCC (Depository for Digital Currency) settlement infrastructure. One detail worth paying close attention to is Nasdaq's plan to partner with Kraken to enable permissionless market connectivity. @krakenfx plans to build what it calls the "Equities Transformation Gateway," an infrastructure layer that will allow securities from traditional financial markets to be used in permissionless, on-chain markets. Kraken's parent company, Payward, will serve as the settlement layer within this system. Kraken is already active in Europe. It operates under a Markets in Virtual Assets Act (MiCA) license and also holds a MiFID II (Marketers in Financial Instruments Directive) license, indicating it has the capacity to offer tokenized stocks to European investors. This is not a new direction for Kraken. The company has been investing in tokenized stock infrastructure for several years. One notable example is its 2025 acquisition of @BackedFi, the operator of the xStocks service. However, the tokenization model used by xStocks today is known as "indirect tokenization." Under this model, Backed Assets Ltd., a Jersey-based special purpose vehicle (SPV), purchases shares on behalf of users. These shares are then held in a licensed custodian, and derivatives contracts referencing those shares are tokenized on-chain. In other words, xStocks currently only provides price exposure to shares, not actual ownership rights. This structure is best understood as a transitional tokenization model. However, a closer look at the newly announced partnership with Nasdaq strongly suggests that Xtax may evolve beyond this transitional structure. The future model is likely to grant full shareholder rights while complying with regulatory requirements. Xtax is not the only project moving in this direction. A number of platforms that previously relied on indirect tokenization models are now preparing to transition to fully regulated tokenization frameworks. Take @OndoFinance Global Markets, for example. They currently offer indirectly tokenized shares using a BVI-based SPV structure. However, Ondo recently filed with the SEC, indicating its plans to transition to a compliant tokenization model. Ondo is also well-positioned for this transition. The company previously acquired Oasis Pro, gaining access to infrastructure including transfer agent, broker-dealer, and alternative trading system (ATS) operating licenses. This foundation could support the move toward compliant equity tokenization. @RobinhoodApp is following a similar path. In early 2025, the company submitted a policy proposal to the SEC requesting a regulatory framework that would allow real-world assets (RWAs) to be tokenized on blockchain networks. Robinhood currently relies on an indirect tokenization structure. However, as the regulatory landscape for RWA tokenization in the US becomes clearer, the company could transition to a compliant model and expand its services to US users. The direction of equity tokenization is becoming increasingly clear. The industry is moving toward direct tokenization or entitlement tokenization, where token holders acquire real rights tied to the underlying asset. Indirect tokenization appears to be merely a temporary bridge. The more interesting question going forward is what will happen after US regulations become clear. When that moment arrives, it will be worth observing how direct tokenization and rights tokenization models coexist within the same ecosystem. twitter.com/gorochi0315/status...