You shouldn’t have to sell your crypto to access capital. That’s the problem Flexline was built to solve. This is the first in a three-part series. Each post goes deeper into the mechanics, the trade-offs, and the decisions worth thinking through depending on your situation. TL;DR Flexline is a fixed-rate, crypto loan – not margin trading, not DeFi Three distinct profiles benefit most: long-term holders who need liquidity, traders who need liquidity without closing their positions, and builders or businesses with crypto on their balance sheet In every case, the logic is the same: keep your position intact, access the capital you need, know your costs up front Rates: 7–25% APR (fixed). Terms: two days to two years. Off-platform withdrawals supported. 1. The long-term holder who needs liquidity Meet Marcus. He’s been holding BTC and ETH since 2019. He’s not a day trader. He checks the charts, knows his cost basis, and has strong conviction about where things are going over the next few years. By any measure, he’s built something real. Then a property deal appears. Significant deposit required. Two-week window. The instinct is to sell. But selling means triggering a taxable event, crystallising gains he’d rather let run, and permanently exiting positions he still believes in. He’s looked at DeFi lending too. He found it technically complicated and, after the events of the last few years, not somewhere he wants to put serious collateral. What Marcus needs is a loan against what he already holds, from a platform he already trusts, at a rate he can plan around. Not a complicated structure. Not a long process. Just capital on a defined timeline, with costs he can see from the start. “I didn’t spend five years building this position to sell it at the first moment I needed cash.” With Flexline , Marcus’s BTC and ETH on Kraken are automatically considered valid collateral. He takes out a loan and withdraws the funds off-platform. His position stays open. His capital is available.The rate is fixed for the full term. The timeline is his to choose, from two days to two years. He’s not giving up what he built. He’s making it work. This is a common profile among Flexline users: significant long-term holdings, a real-world capital need, and a strong preference not to sell. In the first week of Flexline’s launch, users were selecting loan terms of up to 672 days. That’s not a bridge. That’s a long-term liquidity strategy. Why Flexline fits: Off-platform withdrawals – funds can go wherever they’re needed Terms up to two years – built for long-term planning, not just short-term gaps Fixed rate – the cost is known from day one, not subject to market movements Multi-asset collateral – BTC, ETH, and more across 48 supported assets 2. The rate-sensitive trader Priya has been trading crypto with leverage for three years. She understands margin mechanics, she tracks her liquidation price, and she’s built a risk management process that most retail traders don’t bother with. She’s careful. She’s also been getting frustrated. Spot margin rates are fixed once a position is open, but the rate that applies is whatever is prevailing at the moment you enter. During periods of high demand, that rate can spike significantly. For a trader building a thesis around a multi-week position, opening into an elevated rate environment can make the numbers not work before the market has even moved. She wants to know her borrowing cost before she commits, not discover it at the moment of execution. “The market doesn’t wait for rates to calm down. Flexline means I don’t have to either.” Flexline gives Priya a rate agreed upfront, for the full term, regardless of what margin demand looks like when she’s ready to trade. She can build her cost of borrowing into the thesis before she enters, keep her core long-term holdings intact as collateral, and deploy capital without the risk of opening into a rate spike she didn’t see coming. For positions where timing and cost certainty matter, Flexline changes the math. Here’s what that rate range means in practice: at 7–25% APR fixed, shorter terms come with lower rates. A two-day loan looks very different to a two-year loan. The structure rewards traders who can be specific about their timeline, and Priya is exactly that kind of trader. Why Flexline fits: Positions stay open – borrow against your holdings without closing what’s already working Customizable LTV – leverage is a choice, not a default Core holdings preserved as collateral – long-term positions stay intact Capital stays deployed – access liquidity without unwinding a position mid-thesis 3. The builder with crypto on the balance sheet David co-founded a crypto-native project in 2021. The team has grown. The product is live. The treasury is predominantly crypto. That’s how the business was built, and it’s where the value sits. Right now, the business needs working capital. Not speculatively. Just operationally: payroll, infrastructure, a short-term funding gap ahead of the next raise closing. Traditional lenders don’t recognize crypto assets as collateral in any practical way. The ones that do come with long processes, high minimums, or both. Selling from the treasury is a last resort. It disrupts the cap table, signals the wrong things, and liquidates assets the team would rather hold through the next cycle. David needs capital that treats the balance sheet as it actually exists. “We built this business in crypto. It shouldn’t take three months and a law firm to borrow against it .” Flexline offers secured borrowing capacity against multi-asset collateral, with off-platform withdrawals and terms long enough to function as genuine working capital rather than a bridge. Two-year terms mean it can sit on the business’s financial plan like a facility, not a fire drill. Fixed rates mean the cost of capital is predictable, which matters for anything going into a financial model or board presentation. For businesses and builders operating in crypto, the credibility of the lender matters too. Kraken’s Proof of Reserves , regulatory standing, and custody infrastructure aren’t just marketing. They’re operational requirements for any serious commercial relationship. When you’re borrowing against a business treasury, you need to know who holds your collateral and that they’ll still be there when the term ends. Flexline is designed to answer both questions before you need to ask them. Why Flexline fits: Large borrowing capacity – multi-asset collateral accepted across 48 supported crypto assets Off-platform withdrawals – funds can go to bank accounts, investment vehicles, or wherever the business needs them Fixed rates – predictable cost of capital for financial planning and modelling Terms up to two years – genuine working capital, not a short-term patch Three profiles. One underlying idea. The long-term holder The rate-sensitive trader The builder Core need Liquidity without a forced sale Liquidity without closing positions Working capital from crypto holdings What they want to avoid Taxable event, lost upside Closing a working position to raise capital Slow traditional lending, treasury liquidation Key Flexline features Off-platform withdrawals, 2-year terms, multi-asset collateral Positions stay open, fixed rate, terms from 2 days to 2 years Scale, off-platform, long terms, institutional credibility The situations are different. The underlying logic isn’t: you’ve built something, and you shouldn’t have to give it up to access what you need. Flexline is already live. Deep-dive blogs on the long-term holder, the rate-sensitive trader, and the builder are coming. Check your Flexline borrowing power Using Kraken Flexline involves risk, may have tax implications, and may result in the loss of capital. Borrowed assets subject to withdrawal limits. Availability of Kraken Flexline is subject to certain limitations and eligibility criteria. The post Flexline: put your crypto to work without selling it appeared first on Kraken Blog .

2026-04-22 13:17

This year, we issued over 56 million Form 1099-DAs (tax form required for reporting digital asset transactions) to the IRS, one for every reportable transaction our customers made in 2025. That is what the law requires even though nearly a third of those forms (18.5 million) were for transactions worth less than $1. Over half were for $10 or less. Three out of every four were for less than $50. These forms were not sent to sophisticated traders who made big returns from crypto. The vast majority of the forms are for staking rewards measured in fractions of a cent, small purchases, and routine activity. Every single one generates a form that a real person is now expected to understand, reconcile, and report, or risk an IRS notice. The problem is not the technology. It’s the tax code. What it already costs Americans to file their taxes Before digital assets enter the picture, the tax system already imposes an extraordinary compliance burden. According to the Tax Foundation, individual tax returns alone cost Americans a combined $146 billion in time and out-of-pocket expenses . Additionally, based on IRS estimates and independent filer surveys, the average non-business filer spends about eight hours and between $128 and $300 on a standard return. Nearly one in five Americans say they do not feel prepared to file. For the more than 55 million U.S. adults who now hold digital assets, there is an additional layer. Standard tax software does not handle crypto transactions, so many investors need dedicated crypto tax tools that cost $49 to $599 per year on top of their regular filing costs. A typical active holder can spend $250 to $500 annually just to stay compliant, before counting the hours spent reconciling transactions across exchanges and wallets. But here is where it gets even harder for the average taxpayer. In 2025, brokers like Kraken report gross proceeds but not cost basis . While many taxpayers were reporting crypto taxes using tax calculators or other software, Form 1099-DA just caused taxpayers a lot of confusion as the forms presented only gross proceeds in a way many did not understand. We received thousands of questions from clients trying to understand the Forms 1099-DA, in addition to thousands more inquiries given the difficulties for exchanges to produce these on the timeline laid out by the IRS and Treasury. The scale of the problem: Kraken’s 1099-DA data Here is what Kraken’s own reporting data shows for the 2025 tax year: 53.4% of all forms were for transactions of $10 or less. 74.3% were under $50. Only 8.5% exceeded $600, the threshold that triggers reporting in most other areas of the tax code such as transactions on a payment app like Venmo. The hours taxpayers spend reconciling these micro-transactions, often with incomplete data, generate costs wildly disproportionate to any revenue the IRS will collect from them. The good news is that some in Congress are working to address this. Any tax reform that simplifies life for taxpayers should address these core issues. Fix One: a real de minimis exemption The concept is simple: a de minimis exemption that excludes small, routine digital asset payments from capital gains reporting. Imagine you walk into a Steak ’n Shake and pay for a $7.99 meal with Bitcoin through a payment app. You have triggered a taxable event. You are technically required to look up the cost basis of the specific Bitcoin you spent, calculate whether you had a gain or loss on that fraction of a coin, and report it on Form 8949. All for a hamburger and some tallow fries. The US is an outlier in this respect. The UK, for instance, applies an annual capital gains allowance that effectively exempts small crypto transactions such as this from reporting. A targeted de minimis threshold wouldn’t be novel. It would just catch America up. And while current proposed tax legislation does include a de minimis provision, it only covers payment stablecoins. It does not cover Bitcoin, the most widely held digital asset in America, which is accepted by thousands of U.S. merchants. A meaningful de minimis threshold, indexed to inflation and paired with anti-abuse guardrails, would eliminate millions of unnecessary forms while protecting revenue integrity. Congress has already established the regulatory framework for mainstream digital payments through the GENIUS Act, signed into law in July 2025. The tax code should be agnostic whether you are paying with cash, Bitcoin or stablecoins. Fix Two: end phantom income from staking A large portion of those sub-dollar 1099-DAs are staking rewards: tiny fractions of tokens earned for helping validate blockchain networks. While the current law is unclear, the IRS takes the position that each reward is treated as ordinary income at the moment of receipt, valued at fair market value on that date. Most people do not sell staking rewards immediately. They keep staking. But they now owe taxes on value they have not realized. If the token price drops between receipt and filing, the taxpayer owes tax on more than the asset is currently worth. This is phantom income and it’s a consequence of applying rules written for dividends and wages to a fundamentally different kind of asset. Congress should allow taxpayers to choose when staking rewards are taxed: at the time of receipt (as today) or at the time of sale, when the gain or loss is real and measurable. This would eliminate phantom income, dramatically reduce the volume of micro-transaction reporting, and align staking with how most Americans actually experience it, as something they hold rather than something they spend. Kraken and other exchanges already maintain the transaction level data needed to support either reporting method. The infrastructure exists; Congress simply needs to authorize the choice. A bipartisan moment for taxpayers This is not about helping crypto companies. It is about 55 million Americans, spanning every state, age bracket, and industry, who are navigating a tax system designed before digital assets existed. Congress should act to make taxpayers’ lives easier. Learn more about Policy at Payward The post We issued 56 million tax forms for 2025. Most were under $50. It’s time to fix digital asset taxes. appeared first on Kraken Blog .

2026-04-22 11:42

The FOMC decision and Powell’s press conference land on April 29, the same evening that Microsoft, Alphabet, Meta, and Amazon all report. Q1 GDP, March PCE, and the Employment Cost Index follow the next morning. This is a stretch that rewards structured preparation. FOMC rate decision and press conference — April 29 The Federal Open Market Committee concludes its two-day meeting on April 29, with the policy statement due at 2:00 p.m. ET and Chair Powell’s press conference at 2:30 p.m. ET. The current target range sits at 3.50%–3.75%, and futures markets are pricing a hold as the overwhelmingly likely outcome. The decision itself is not the primary focus. What traders are watching is language. April is not a projections meeting; no dot plot, no updated Summary of Economic Projections. Which means every word in the statement carries more interpretive weight than usual. The Fed must communicate in an environment where headline inflation has risen on energy, core PCE remains above target, and Q4 2025 GDP came in at just 0.5%. The question the press conference will attempt to answer is whether the Committee treats the inflation overshoot as temporary or as a reason to hold rates higher for longer into the second half of 2026. If the statement introduces more hawkish language on inflation persistence, rate-sensitive assets including digital currencies may respond accordingly; if the tone is read as keeping later-2026 cuts alive, the reaction may run in the other direction. Historically, non-projections meetings with clear holds have produced moves driven entirely by tone rather than headline decision. Relevant markets on Kraken Pro: BTC/USD , ETH/USD , and all USD-denominated spot and margin pairs . Q1 2026 GDP advance estimate — April 30 The Bureau of Economic Analysis releases its first official read on Q1 2026 US economic growth on Thursday, April 30. This advance estimate is the earliest of three rounds and the one markets respond to most sharply. The context is loaded. Q4 2025 GDP was revised down to just 0.5% on the third estimate, from 1.4% at the advance stage, a significant deterioration that only became clear in retrospect. Q1 sits in a more disrupted environment: oil near $100 through much of the quarter, a reset tariff regime following the IEEPA ruling, and business confidence data that began reflecting Iran-conflict-related headwinds from late February onward. The GDP print arrives simultaneously with PCE and the Employment Cost Index, the morning after the FOMC decision. Traders will be interpreting all three data points through whatever framework Powell’s press conference established the previous afternoon. Historically, macro-sensitive assets including digital currencies have responded to GDP surprises in both directions; the size of any move has varied significantly with the prevailing rate environment. Relevant markets: BTC/USD , ETH/USD , and USD-denominated spot and margin pairs on Kraken Pro . PCE inflation, Personal Income and Outlays (March) — April 30 March Personal Income and Outlays (which contains the PCE price index, the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge) releases at 8:30 a.m. ET on April 30, simultaneously with the GDP print. Traders absorb growth and inflation data in a single moment. The most recent core PCE reading came in at 2.7%, above the Fed’s 2% target. Two factors make the March reading potentially more difficult: oil prices near $100 passed through to consumer energy costs during the survey period, and tariff-related goods price increases are beginning to reach end consumers. The Fed’s rate path for the rest of 2026 depends substantially on whether core PCE shows renewed upward momentum or holds near the prior reading. If Q1 GDP is weak and core PCE is elevated, the combination tightens the policy constraint; growth is slowing but inflation is not, limiting the Fed’s flexibility to respond to either problem. Historically, rate-sensitive assets have responded to this kind of data combination with elevated volatility. Relevant markets: BTC/USD , ETH/USD , spot and margin pairs on Kraken Pro . Employment Cost Index Q1 2026 — April 30 The Employment Cost Index, also released at 8:30 a.m. ET on April 30, measures the quarterly change in total compensation across all civilian workers. Q4 2025 came in at 0.7% quarterly and 3.4% annually. The ECI is distinct from other wage measures in that it controls for changes in the mix of workers and jobs, making it the Fed’s most reliable read on structural wage pressure. For that reason, the Fed has treated it as one of the most important single data points in assessing whether inflation is re-anchoring or remaining sticky above target. A Q1 print above 0.8% quarterly, arriving alongside a soft GDP and elevated PCE reading, would be the data configuration most likely to delay any Fed rate adjustment through the summer. Traders monitoring rate probabilities for the June meeting should treat the ECI as potentially the most consequential number in a very busy morning. Relevant markets: all rate-sensitive assets on Kraken Pro , including spot and margin pairs . Tesla Q1 2026 earnings — April 22, after close Tesla reports Q1 2026 results tonight. Q1 production came in at 408,386 vehicles and deliveries at 358,023. Street consensus sits at approximately $0.37 EPS on $22.71 billion revenue, though some analyst estimates sit meaningfully below that. The more consequential question on tonight’s call is capital allocation. Media reports have described Tesla in early-stage conversations with suppliers around a large-scale AI compute facility (referred to in reports as “Terafab”) that would represent a substantial expansion beyond Tesla’s existing $20 billion 2026 capex guide. Tesla has not confirmed the scope or timeline of this project in any official filing. If the call includes disclosure on the scale of AI infrastructure ambition, traders will be assessing the balance sheet and cash flow implications alongside an auto division already managing elevated inventory following the Q1 delivery miss. Crypto markets have historically shown correlation with broad technology sentiment during periods of equity volatility. Relevant markets: BTC/USD and ETH/USD as broad risk proxies on Kraken Pro . Deribit Monthly BTC/ETH Options Expiry — April 24 The Deribit monthly BTC and ETH options expiry falls on Friday, April 24, the last Friday of April and the date on which Deribit settles its monthly contracts. This is distinct from the weekly expiry cycle and typically represents a larger volume of open interest resolving simultaneously. Monthly expiries are associated with increased implied volatility in the days preceding settlement, as traders roll or close positions and market makers adjust hedges. This expiry lands ahead of the macro data and earnings cluster from April 29 onward and traders active in BTC and ETH derivatives should factor the positioning dynamics into their planning for what follows. Relevant markets: BTC/USD and ETH/USD spot, margin , and futures on Kraken Pro . Microsoft, Alphabet, Meta, and Amazon Earnings — April 29, after close Four of the world’s largest companies report Q1 2026 earnings on Wednesday evening, the same day as the FOMC decision. Microsoft (Q3 FY26), Alphabet, Meta, and Amazon deliver results after the close, meaning traders process the Fed’s afternoon communication before the earnings hit. The shared narrative across all four is AI capital expenditure and whether it is producing commensurate revenue growth. Microsoft guided Azure constant-currency growth at 37–38% for Q3 following 39% in Q2, against a quarterly capex rate that has risen sharply year-over-year. Alphabet’s 2026 capex guide has been described as approximately double 2025 levels, while Meta disclosed a $115–$135 billion full-year capex plan that was nearly double its 2025 spend. Each management team will face questions about whether AI monetization is accelerating fast enough to justify the investment trajectory. For crypto traders, the macro read-across is risk appetite. Historically, a cluster of confident tech earnings guidance has supported broader risk-on conditions; a cluster of misses or cautious capex commentary has coincided with risk-off moves across equities and digital assets. Past market behavior is not a reliable indicator of future results. Relevant markets: BTC/USD and ETH/USD spot and margin pairs on Kraken Pro . Apple Q2 FY26 Earnings — April 30, after close Apple reports fiscal Q2 2026 results on Thursday evening, the same day as the macro triple-header. The company guided Q2 revenue growth of 13–16%, implying approximately $107.8 billion to $110.7 billion. Q1 was described as a record quarter. The Apple call carries a specific signal beyond the headline numbers: services revenue growth and any commentary on tariff impacts to component supply chains. If Apple reaffirms or upgrades guidance in an environment where consumer confidence is below 100 and oil is elevated, it signals that premium consumer demand is holding despite macro headwinds. If guidance is reduced citing supply chain or demand pressure, the implications extend well beyond Apple. Relevant markets: BTC/USD and ETH/USD as risk sentiment proxies on Kraken Pro . Strategy (MSTR) Q1 2026 Earnings — May 5, after close Strategy reports Q1 2026 earnings on Tuesday, May 5. The company ended 2025 holding approximately 713,502 BTC and has transitioned to fair-value accounting for its digital asset holdings, meaning quarterly Bitcoin price movements flow directly through to reported earnings and book value. The primary signal from the Strategy call is continued accumulation intent and whether the company’s equity issuance program remains active. Any change to the BTC accumulation cadence (or commentary on the fair-value accounting implications) would be notable given the scale of Strategy’s holdings relative to circulating supply. Relevant markets: BTC/USD on Kraken Pro . Also coming up: Conference Board Consumer Confidence for April releases Tuesday, April 28, following a March reading in which inflation expectations rose sharply. Advance Durable Goods for March releases Wednesday, April 29. ISM Manufacturing PMI for April — the first full monthly read under current oil and conflict conditions — releases Friday, May 1. JOLTS March job openings and ISM Services PMI for April both release Tuesday, May 5. Closing context The sequencing here is what makes the next two weeks worth mapping in advance. The FOMC decision and press conference on April 29 will establish the interpretive frame for the GDP, PCE, and ECI data that print the following morning. Apple’s guidance that same Thursday evening closes a 36-hour window in which the growth, inflation, wage, and corporate earnings picture will all update simultaneously. Knowing in advance what scenarios you are watching for (and which Kraken Pro markets are most directly exposed) is what separates reactive trading from deliberate strategy. Explore markets on Kraken Pro This content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Past market behavior is not a reliable indicator of future results. Trading involves risk. The post FOMC decision, GDP, PCE, and Big Tech earnings, all in the next 2 weeks appeared first on Kraken Blog .

2026-04-22 11:30

The brief was simple: Build the future of onchain capital markets. The quality of what teams shipped made the judges’ deliberations genuinely difficult. xStocks’ Director of Engineering Yotam Katznelson: “The bar was high and the winners were hard to call.” Here’s who came out on top. 1st place: xPrime xPrime is a prime brokerage for onchain assets, live on Ethereum and Ink. It lets you put your stock portfolio to work: Earn yield through strategies like USD carry trade and covered calls Borrow against your holdings Trade from a single interface The three strategies on launch range from 12% to 45.2% estimated APY, powered by xStocks as the underlying collateral layer. 2nd place: Stretch by Spreads Stretch takes the $STRCx dividend and loops it, automatically, for up to 5x more yield. No manual compounding, no complex DeFi navigation. Deposit, stretch, collect. Clean concept, clean execution. 3rd place: STREAM STREAM splits a single xStock into two separate tokens: Captures dividend rights and trades 24/7 Gives you leveraged price exposure during NYSE hours The two can always be recombined to redeem the underlying asset. It’s a yield tokenization protocol that borrows a concept well-established in traditional fixed income markets and makes it composable onchain. Currently live on Ink Sepolia and Ethereum Sepolia with 8 assets. What this hackathon proved The infrastructure is there. Builders showed up and shipped working products on top of xStocks in two days, covering prime brokerage, yield amplification, and yield tokenization. These aren’t concepts anymore, they’re live demos with real mechanics. The xStocks ecosystem is open. If you’re building, the rails are ready for you. Explore xStocks on Kraken xStocks are issued by Backed Assets (JE) Limited (a Jersey private limited company) and offered to eligible Kraken customers via Payward Digital Solutions Ltd. (“PDSL”), a company licensed to conduct digital asset business by the Bermuda Monetary Authority. xStocks are not nor will be registered with any local securities regulators. PDSL (Kraken) does not provide investment advice. Individual investors should seek professional independent advice as to the suitability of any investment, including potential tax treatment. Investing in xStocks involves an element of risk. Past performance does not indicate future results. Not available in the U.S., UK, Canada, Australia or to persons in sanctioned jurisdictions. Geo restrictions apply. Read Kraken’s xStocks Risk Disclosure at kraken.com/legal/xstocks as well as the Base Prospectus and related Final Terms for xStocks at assets.backed.fi/legal-documentation to learn more. The post xStocks Hackathon: meet the builders who shipped onchain capital markets in 48 hours appeared first on Kraken Blog .

2026-04-22 11:24

Here’s a look at what we got up to. Mainstage and summit appearances We had four speakers on the program across EthCC’s main conference and the adjacent RWA Summit, a concentration that reflects where our thinking is focused at the moment. Monday opened with Magna CEO Bruno Faviero’s panel titled “Future of Money” featuring Zerion and Cap Money. They discussed the future of onchain yield-bearing assets, and whether more growth would come from crypto-native assets or vaults that bring traditional finance assets onchain. Later that afternoon, Kraken General Manager of xStocks Val Gui returned to the same stage with “Don’t Build Trading Venues. Build Onchain Capital Markets ,” a talk that drew a sharp distinction between the exchange model the industry has defaulted to and what a genuinely open, programmable capital markets layer could look like. Since Kraken’s acquisition of xStocks parent company Backed, the xStocks platform has grown to over 100 tokenized stocks and ETFs, while surpassing $25 billion in total transaction volume , cementing its position as the world’s largest provider of tokenized equities. On Tuesday, Val took that thread further at the RWA Summit with “Approaches and Learnings from Tokenized Equities” , drawing on Kraken’s work in the space to walk through what’s actually hard about bringing real-world assets onchain and what the path forward looks like in practice. That same afternoon, Noid took the Burton Stage for “ Cooking With GASS: A Developer-Friendly Airdrop Mechanism ,” a tight breakdown of a mechanism designed to make token distribution more thoughtful and less chaotic for the teams building on top of it. All four talks are a fair representation of where we’re spending our energy: less on what crypto could eventually become, more on what builders can ship today. Hackathon The Kraken hackathon ran Tuesday through Thursday at the Carlton, wrapping up Thursday afternoon ahead of the afterparty. Fifty-four participants across 17 teams had roughly 55 hours to build, and the output was strong enough that the judging panel split prizes across six winners rather than the standard podium. The top three went to xPrime (first), Stretch by Spreads (second), and xStream (third). A $10,000 discretionary prize was split three ways between Paragon, Castar/Aura, and Otomato, teams whose projects the panel felt warranted recognition beyond the ranked placings. The hackathon closed out with the Code to Coast afterparty at Lucia Beach on Thursday evening, a low-key wind-down that gave participants and Kraken team members a chance to debrief somewhere with better views than a hotel conference room. Side events Outside the main conference, we hosted three intimate gatherings that reflected different corners of what we’re building. Tuesday evening brought the Ink event, Proof of Liquidity, drawing around 250 people for a focused conversation on liquidity infrastructure and what Ink’s architecture makes possible. Wednesday morning was a smaller-format Magna Brunch, followed that evening by a Listings Dinner. All three were at capacity, and the conversations were exactly the kind that don’t happen on a main stage. Until next time EthCC has always been a conference for people who are actually building, which is why it continues to matter. This year, between the talks, the hackathon output, and the side events, we came away with a stronger conviction that the onchain capital markets thesis isn’t speculative anymore: teams are executing on it, and we intend to keep making that easier. See you next year. Explore xStocks on Kraken xStocks are issued by Backed Assets (JE) Limited (a Jersey private limited company) and offered to eligible Kraken customers via Payward Digital Solutions Ltd. (“PDSL”), a company licensed to conduct digital asset business by the Bermuda Monetary Authority. xStocks are not nor will be registered with any local securities regulators. PDSL (Kraken) does not provide investment advice and/or recommendations, and, no communication, through any Kraken App or website or otherwise, should be construed as such. Individual investors should make their own decisions or seek professional independent advice if they are unsure as to the suitability / appropriateness of any investment for their circumstances or needs, including potential tax treatment. Investing in xStocks involves an element of risk. The value of an investment may go down as well as up, and past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results. Not available in the U.S. or to U.S. persons. Geo restrictions apply. Read Kraken’s xStocks Risk Disclosure at kraken.com/legal/xstocks as well as the Base Prospectus and related Final Terms for xStocks at https://assets.backed.fi/legal-documentation to learn more. The post Inside Kraken’s ethCC: xStocks, Ink, and 17 teams building in 55 hours appeared first on Kraken Blog .

2026-04-22 10:27