Four major crypto companies made significant moves this week that together show the industry is no longer just holding assets, but it’s actively building the next layer of infrastructure that blends traditional finance with onchain tools.
Coinbase opens stocks and ETF trading for US users
On February 24, 2026, Coinbase launched commission-free stock and ETF trading for its US customers.
Users can now buy, sell, and hold eligible securities 24 hours a day, five days a week, funding positions with USD or USDC and accessing fractional shares starting at just $1.
Trade stocks.
Around the clock.→ 24/5 trading
→ Zero commission
→ One unified portfolio for stocks & crypto
→ Buy fractional shares for as little as $1Now available to all eligible U.S. traders on Coinbase. pic.twitter.com/mmDA798gKR
— Coinbase 🛡️ (@coinbase) February 24, 2026
CEO Brian Armstrong called it “a big moment” and tied the launch directly to the company’s long-term vision: “The everything exchange is growing. This is another step toward our vision of offering tokenized equities.”
The move follows a limited pilot in December 2025 and lets users manage crypto and traditional assets in one unified portfolio, exactly the kind of convergence many institutions and active retail traders have been asking for.
Kraken introduces regulated perpetual futures on tokenized stocks
At the same time, Kraken launched what it calls the first regulated perpetual futures contracts based on tokenized stocks.
Built on its xStocks framework (acquired late 2025), the products give price exposure to major U.S. names including Apple, Nvidia, Tesla, Alphabet, Robinhood, MicroStrategy, and Coinbase, plus indices and ETFs such as the S&P 500, Nasdaq 100, and SPDR Gold.
xStocks Perps just expanded.$TSLAx, $AAPLx, $NVDAx and more now trade 24/7 on Kraken.
Long or short, anytime.
Click to trade @xStocksFi ⤵️
— Kraken (@krakenfx) February 24, 2026
Contracts are fully collateralized 1:1 by reference shares and offer up to 20x leverage with true 24/7 trading. They are initially available to eligible non-U.S. clients in more than 110 countries.
This is Kraken’s clearest step yet into blending tokenized real-world assets with crypto-native derivatives, giving traders equity exposure even when traditional markets are closed.
Bitwise acquires Chorus One to supercharge institutional staking
On the infrastructure side, Bitwise Asset Management announced the acquisition of Chorus One, one of the longest-running institutional staking providers with more than $2.2 billion in assets under management and an eight-year track record.
The deal folds Chorus One’s team and technology into Bitwise Onchain Solutions, expanding staking support across more than 30 proof-of-stake networks including Solana, Hyperliquid, Monad, Avalanche, Sui, NEAR, Aptos, Tezos, and TON.
Bitwise gains 50 experienced engineers and researchers while adding depth to its fiduciary-grade staking offering for institutions, family offices, and platforms.
CoinShares launches zero-fee Hyperliquid staking ETP
CoinShares added another institutional-friendly product: the CoinShares Hyperliquid Staking ETP, listed on Xetra.
The physically backed product offers exposure to Hyperliquid’s native HYPE token with a 0% management fee and a 0.5% staking yield.
It targets institutional clients and is positioned as a “defensive play” in volatile markets thanks to Hyperliquid’s strong trading-fee revenue base.
What the cluster actually signals
These four announcements in the same week are not isolated product drops. They form a clear pattern:
Coinbase is turning its app into a true multi-asset hub for U.S. users. Kraken is bridging tokenized equities into 24/7 derivatives for international clients.
Bitwise is vertically integrating staking infrastructure to serve sophisticated allocators.
CoinShares is packaging onchain yield into a regulated ETP format institutions already know. It’s like the inverse four horsemen. No apocalypse, but a new world.
Together they show crypto-native companies are moving fast to capture the next wave of capital, the point where institutions and serious retail no longer need separate wallets, brokers, and custodians.
The tools are being built in public, right now, in front of our eyes. I wouldn’t want to be a crypto skeptic right now.
For anyone watching how crypto matures beyond pure speculation, this week was a loud and clear reminder, the crypto platform expansions that matter most are the ones that quietly make real-world usage simpler, safer, and more integrated.
Crypto market researcher and external contributor at Kriptoworld
Wheel. Steam engine. Bitcoin.
📅 Published: February 26, 2026 • 🕓 Last updated: February 26, 2026
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