Payward, parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, will tokenize up to 100 London-listed stocks as blockchain-based equity tokens. The London Stock Exchange confirmed the arrangement, its first significant move into onchain equities.
The tokens sit under Payward’s xStocks framework. Each one represents a 1:1-backed claim on the underlying share. Regulatory approval still stands between the plan and execution.
A new extended-hours venue, LSE 24, would handle listing and trading. The idea: round-the-clock exposure to UK equities, Monday through Friday, 5 p.m. to 7:50 a.m. UK time with a 30-minute end-of-day processing pause, the Financial Times reported. Trading on the venue will not begin until 2027, Payward chief commercial officer Mark Greenberg told the FT.
The first London-listed xStocks should arrive “in the coming weeks” on Kraken and other platforms in the xStocks Alliance, according to The Block.
“By working with Payward, and continuing to collaborate across the market infrastructure community, we are exploring how issuers and investors can benefit from new forms of access while maintaining the standards that underpin public markets,” Julia Hoggett, CEO of the London Stock Exchange, said in the statement.
The partnership also explores native equity tokens issued directly through LSE infrastructure rather than wrappers bolted onto existing shares, according to Cointelegraph. In practice, that would let the exchange settle ownership transfers onchain while keeping the tokens inside its regulatory perimeter.
The deal fits a wider push by traditional exchange operators into tokenized equities. Nasdaq partnered with Payward in March on an equities transformation gateway and filed a tokenization proposal with US regulators in September 2025, Cointelegraph reported. Intercontinental Exchange, the NYSE parent, invested in OKX to bring tokenized NYSE-listed stocks starting in the second quarter of 2026. Deutsche Börse put $200 million into Payward in April.
That momentum has not yet translated to market size. Total tokenized equities sit at roughly $2.53 billion, per RWA.xyz data cited by both outlets. xStocks accounts for about $606.6 million of that. It is the second-largest issuer behind Ondo, at roughly $840.4 million. Tokenized equities are up 15% over the past 30 days.
Greenberg framed the appeal in plain terms. “The world’s biggest stocks deserve to trade the way the world trades — instantly, 24 hours a day, five days a week,” he told the Financial Times.
What remains unknown: the specific list of 100 UK stocks to be tokenized, the commercial terms of the partnership, and whether UK-based investors will eventually get access to the tokens. The timeline hinges on regulators.
Traders, as ever, disagree.
