LSE Partners with Kraken Parent Payward to Bring UK Shares to Blockchain

The London Stock Exchange (LSE) has partnered with Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, to bring shares of major UK-listed companies onto the blockchain. The agreement allows for the issuance of tokenized shares tied to the 100 largest UK-listed companies by market capitalization using Payward's xStocks platform.

xStocks tokens are backed one-for-one by underlying shares and can be traded 24 hours a day, 365 days a year on centralized exchanges, self-custody wallets, and on-chain applications. The xStocks platform has exceeded $40 billion in cumulative trading volume and has over 200,000 holders.

The LSE plans to list xStocks on its 24-hour trading platform, LSE 24, subject to regulatory approval. The company also aims to expand the lineup to include tokenized stocks from the US, the European Union, the UK, and Hong Kong, as well as additional asset classes.

Payward's co-CEO Arjun Sethi said that the assumption that crypto and traditional finance would collide was wrong from the start. LSE CEO Julia Hoggett struck a more cautious tone, stating that tokenization should develop in a way that preserves the trust of regulated markets and investor rights.