LSE Teams with Kraken Parent for Tokenized UK Equities
The London Stock Exchange has announced a deal with Payward, the parent company of cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, to bring UK equities on-chain through tokenized stock trading. This partnership will enable xStocks, Payward's tokenized equity framework, to be listed for trading on LSE 24, the exchange's 24/5 venue.
Payward will issue xStocks representing the 100 largest London-listed companies in the coming weeks. The tokens are loan notes rather than shares and are backed by assets held in custody by Backed Assets (JE) Limited, a Jersey company. This framework has already seen over $40 billion in cumulative volume across more than 200,000 holders in just over a year.
The tokenization of these stocks is expected to extend their reach to investors in over 110 countries, providing issuers with a new global channel for their shares. The deal also explores native LSE-issued equity tokens.