
The parent company of Kraken partners with GTN to offer 1:1 backed stock tokens across multiple blockchains.
AI-generated summary
Payward is the parent company of the Kraken crypto exchange. The company has been actively partnering with traditional financial institutions to bridge crypto and traditional stock markets.
Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, has tokenized more than 200 UK and European stocks through its xStocks platform, it announced on Wednesday.
The first batch covers some of the most actively traded companies listed in the UK and the European Union, with more to be added on a rolling basis. Like other xStocks, each token is backed 1:1 by the underlying share, which is bought and held by a regulated custodian for as long as the token trades, according to Payward.
The tokens are available to trade on Kraken and through other platforms in the xStocks Alliance, and on blockchains where xStocks already trade, including Solana, Ethereum and TON. They are offered in more than 110 markets, but remain unavailable to investors in the UK.
"A portfolio should not have borders or trading hours," said Mark Greenberg, Payward's chief commercial officer. "Tokenizing every other international market is the next step."
The launch takes xStocks past 1,500 tokenized stocks, ETFs and IPOs. The platform holds more than $1.1 billion in assets, has processed over $45 billion in total transaction volume, and has more than 550,000 holders, Payward said.
The road to London
The new tokens are the first delivered under Payward's partnership with GTN, a brokerage infrastructure firm that handles execution and custody of the underlying shares. When the two partnered in July, Payward said it planned to start with Hong Kong-listed stocks; hundreds of Hong Kong listings will now follow in the coming weeks, the company said.
The expansion also delivers on part of Payward's partnership with the London Stock Exchange, announced in September, under which Payward agreed to tokenize the 100 largest London-listed companies. Subject to regulatory approval, the exchange intends to list xStocks and begin trading them on LSE 24, its planned near-24-hour trading venue, in 2027.
Payward has been drawing interest from traditional exchanges. Nasdaq agreed to invest $100 million in the company at a $21 billion valuation in September, building on a March partnership to bring tokenized stocks to market in 2027, while Deutsche Börse bought a $200 million stake in April.
AI outlook — possibilities, not facts
Hundreds of Hong Kong-listed stocks to be added to xStocks platform.
Very likely · Within weeks

Anthropic sets IPO price range for a $1T valuation, raising $64.4B. Analysis suggests potential short-term liquidity drain for crypto markets, mirroring previous SpaceX listing patterns, while broader markets react to AI sector earnings and banking consortium news.

The Financial Stability Board (FSB) has advised Turkey to tighten crypto market oversight and develop a dedicated stablecoin framework. While acknowledging recent progress in licensing, the FSB highlights the need for formal risk monitoring and international cooperation.

Nvidia shares plummeted, wiping out $430 billion in market value over two days following reports of CEO Jensen Huang's ties to a woman identified by U.S. intelligence as a Chinese spy. Lawmakers are now calling for Huang's resignation and launching investigations.

Barclays and Citigroup significantly increased their spot Bitcoin ETF holdings in Q3, with Barclays reporting 3.94 million IBIT shares. Institutional investment managers continue to file reports, showing a broader trend of banks entering the digital asset space.

Payward's xStocks platform added tokenized versions of over 200 UK and EU stocks, bringing its total tokenized asset offering to more than 1,500.

Bitcoin short-term holders transferred over 47,000 BTC at a loss to exchanges on Tuesday as the cryptocurrency hit an 11-week low of $72,670, according to data from CryptoQuant.