Kraken adds Solana DEX trading to main app on Thursday

Kraken launched onchain decentralized exchange trading in its main mobile app on Thursday, initially giving customers in the United States and more than 100 countries access to over 2,500 Solana-based tokens. The feature lets users trade DEX-based assets through Kraken’s standard buy and sell interface, with holdings shown alongside other assets in the portfolio view and purchases funded with USD or USDC balances. The rollout uses embedded wallet infrastructure from Privy and connects to leading Solana DEX protocols. The move extends a broader industry push by centralized exchanges to simplify access to onchain markets by wrapping decentralized liquidity in familiar app experiences. Kraken said the launch fits its wider “DeFi mullet” strategy, pairing centralized front-end design with decentralized back-end infrastructure. The company has previously introduced DeFi Earn and supported development of the Ethereum Layer 2 network Ink. The expansion came during a broader crypto market selloff in which SOL fell nearly 8%, while DEX activity had already cooled from a mid-2025 peak: the DEX-to-CEX spot trading ratio was about 13.25%, down from an all-time high of 21.75% in June 2025, according to The Block’s data. Kraken joins peers including OKX, Bybit, Binance, and Coinbase in lowering barriers to onchain access. Coinbase last year integrated DEX trading into its main platform through aggregators such as 0x and 1inch, initially focused on Base before later adding Solana support. Kraken’s parent company, Payward, is also working toward a public listing after confidentially filing an S-1 with the SEC in November 2025 and initially targeting a Q1 2026 listing, though no IPO date has been confirmed.