Kraken, the cryptocurrency exchange, used the ethCC conference to highlight its expanding presence in on-chain capital markets, sending speakers and engineers to the event alongside a three-day hackathon and a series of side events.
The company framed its participation around building practical infrastructure for programmable capital markets rather than discussing theoretical use cases.
Kraken fielded four speakers across the main ethCC conference and the adjacent RWA Summit, a gathering focused on the tokenisation of real-world assets.
Val Gui, general manager of Kraken's xStocks platform, delivered a talk titled "Don't Build Trading Venues. Build Onchain Capital Markets", while a session on developer tooling for airdrop mechanisms was presented by a speaker known as Noid.
The xStocks platform, which offers tokenised versions of traditional stocks and exchange-traded funds, has grown to more than 100 listed instruments and processed over $25 billion in total transaction volume, the company said.
Kraken's hackathon ran at the Carlton venue with 54 participants across 17 teams, who were given roughly 55 hours to build working projects.
Prizes were split across six winners, with xPrime taking first place, Stretch by Spreads finishing second and xStream in third.
A $10,000 discretionary prize was shared between three further teams: Paragon, Castar/Aura and Otomato.
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Side events included Ink's Proof of Liquidity gathering, which drew around 250 attendees, a Magna Brunch and a Listings Dinner, all of which reached capacity.
Kraken said the conference reinforced its view that on-chain capital markets are moving from concept to execution, and that it intends to continue supporting builders and developer tooling in the space.
The recap
- Kraken hosted talks, a hackathon and three side events.
- xStocks surpassed $25 billion in total transaction volume.
- Kraken ran a 55-hour hackathon with 17 teams.
