Kraken Parent Payward Launches 200 Tokenized UK and EU Stocks on xStocks

Crypto exchange Kraken's parent company, Payward, tokenized more than 200 UK and European equities on its xStocks platform on Nov. 11 ¹. The release marks the firm's largest geographic expansion beyond US equities to date, adding heavily traded European names such as HSBC, Shell, LVMH, and Airbus ¹. Each token is backed 1:1 by underlying shares acquired and maintained by a regulated custodian throughout the asset's active trading lifecycle ¹.

The synthetic equities trade on Kraken, partner venues within the xStocks Alliance, and across several layer-1 blockchains, including Solana, Ethereum, and TON ¹. The tokens are live across more than 110 international jurisdictions, though Payward excluded UK investors from trading ¹. Brokerage infrastructure provider GTN supplies trade execution and custodian services for the underlying basket of stocks ¹. With this deployment, xStocks oversees more than 1,500 tokenized equities, exchange-traded funds, and initial public offerings, with over 550,000 asset holders, $1.1 billion in total assets, and $45 billion in processed transaction volume ¹.

Exchange Alliances and 2027 Pipeline

The initiative forms part of Payward's broader real-world asset integration with legacy exchanges. Following a September agreement, Payward committed to bringing the 100 largest London-listed companies onchain for the London Stock Exchange ¹. Pending regulatory authorization, the LSE plans to list xStocks on LSE 24, its planned continuous-trading market, starting in 2027 ¹. The push complements earlier backing from traditional market infrastructure operators, including Nasdaq's $100 million investment in Payward in September at a $21 billion valuation, and a $200 million stake purchased by Deutsche Börse in April ¹.

Payward plans to tokenize hundreds of Hong Kong-listed equities in the coming weeks alongside partner GTN ¹. In parallel, the company continues its European expansion following agreements to acquire Lithuania-based Saldo Bank and US derivatives exchange Bitnomial for $550 million ¹. At the time of writing, major digital assets traded slightly down, with $BTC at $73,992 and $ETH at $2,055.