The London Stock Exchange (LSE) and Payward, the parent company of cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, have agreed to expand tokenized stock trading through Payward’s xStocks framework.
The partnership builds on a platform that has scaled rapidly. In just over a year, xStocks have recorded more than $40 billion in total trading volume, with nearly $20 billion settled onchain. Payward said the products now have more than 200,000 holders.
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Tokenized U.K. shares planned for global distribution
The agreement could give U.K.-listed shares access to investors in more than 110 countries through blockchain infrastructure. However, xStocks are not currently available to investors based in the U.K.
Subject to regulatory approval, the LSE said it will begin listing xStocks and support their trading on LSE 24, its recently announced 24-hour trading venue. The platform is expected to eventually cover tokenized equities from the United States, European Union, United Kingdom and Hong Kong, along with additional asset classes as the framework expands.
The companies also plan to explore equity tokens issued natively by the LSE. This would allow LSE members to issue and service shares directly onchain while preserving full fungibility and the same rights attached to traditional stock.
“For years, the assumption was that crypto and traditional finance were on a collision course, and one of them would have to lose. That was never the real story,” said Arjun Sethi, Payward’s co-CEO, in a statement.
