xStocks and the Future of Tokenised Equities ft. Adam Levi, Co-Founder of Backed
In the latest episode of The VALR Podcast, Farzam Ehsani, Co-Founder and CEO of VALR, interviews Adam Levi, Co-Founder of Backed, the issuer of xStocks, tokenised equities launched on 30 June 2025, following a May announcement.
Within two months, xStocks recorded over 26,000 unique wallet holders, £43 million in assets under management, £2.4 billion in trading volume, and 600 million on-chain transactions, encompassing DeFi and efficient Request for Quote (RFQ) trades.
Levi forecasts tokenised equities surpassing stablecoins’ issuance value in two crypto cycles (~8 years, by 2033), citing stablecoins’ initial slow, then exponential growth (e.g., Tether’s rise from £8 million to £800 million). The xStocks Alliance fosters network effects with exchanges, market makers, and DeFi platforms, with new partnerships forthcoming.
Launched on Solana for its retail vibrancy, xStocks are expanding to EVM chains, potentially exploring others like Move.
xStocks offer fractionalisation, instant settlement, 24/7 trading, multi-venue trading, and DeFi integration, enhancing accessibility for underserved regions. Trading volumes dip at weekends, but Levi anticipates tokenised markets driving price discovery during TradFi closures. The vision is an inclusive financial system, countering fiat erosion and reducing wealth inequalities by democratising access to instruments like the S&P 500. Levi emphasised robust, physically backed products to avoid risks seen in synthetic instruments during the 2008 crisis.
