Nado - Tokenized Stocks as Collateral
xStocks Collateral, $100K Weekly Rewards System, and What Changed Since Season 2
Leverage on tokenized equities used to mean one thing, a perp priced off the stock. Collateral was usually stablecoins or majors, so an equity portfolio onchain sat idle in spot while traders posted other assets to margin their trades.
Nado became the first perpetuals DEX to accept tokenized equities as collateral, with Kraken-listed xStocks now depositable, borrowable, and margin-eligible inside its unified account.
We’ve covered Nado’s architecture and its traction in two prior editions; this one covers the equity collateral mechanics and the new rewards system.
Why xStocks Work as Collateral
An xStock is a token backed 1:1 by a real share held with a regulated custodian, with dividends and splits handled by automatic rebasing so 1 token always equals 1 share. Buying it only provides economic exposure, not equity ownership.
Tokenized equities historically couldn’t be used as collateral because risk engines couldn’t price them continuously and liquidate them quickly. However, Nado’s risk engine values every position in a single portfolio in real time, and its own order books are the liquidation venue, so the collateral is priceable and sellable on the same exchange that uses it as margin.
Users can deposit xStocks as perp margin, and one position can simultaneously hold the equity exposure, margin a crypto perp position, and back a USDT loan. Hedging no longer requires selling as Nado’s engine recognizes a short perp as a hedge, reducing margin instead of doubling it. And because xStocks trade on Nado around the clock while primary issuance follows US market hours, positions can be hedged or levered while the underlying exchange is closed. This is also the risk, since off-hours prices lean on Nado’s own flow and equity collateral can gap on Monday’s open.
Users can also earn a 25% xPoints multiplier for holding xStocks as collateral, stacking with Nado Points that convert to INK at the TGE.
$100K Weekly Rewards
Season 2 launched in late May, tying the weekly points pool to platform volume, and added fee-based referral commissions. One-off competitions that offered cash rewards based on PnL and volume also occurred in May and June.
Nado Rewards launched on August 3, making the cash reward recurring. A weekly pool of up to $100,000 in USDT is distributed according to each trader’s share of weekly volume. This functions like a cashback layer on top of points, with “up to” limits meaning the pool scales rather than guaranteeing the cap.
What to Watch
Nado enters this phase with $58.5B in lifetime volume and over $4M of Q1 revenue per DefiLlama. Moving forward, investors should monitor xStocks’ share of the collateral base as Kraken has strong distribution around xStocks. Volume is the other metric to watch: sustained volume despite shrinking reward pools would show sticky demand.
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