Payward to expand Kraken’s xStocks into global markets

Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, has partnered with global fintech GTN to expand its xStocks tokenized shares beyond U.S. equities into Hong Kong, the U.K., Europe and South Korea. GTN will provide trade execution, custody and record-keeping; distribution to institutional clients requires regulatory approval in each market.

Under the agreement, GTN will supply regulated infrastructure to execute trades, hold the underlying securities in custody and maintain records and sub-accounting for each tokenized asset. Payward will use its xStocks framework to mint one-to-one blockchain tokens backed by real shares held in custody.

The rollout will begin with Hong Kong-listed equities and move to U.K., European and South Korean stocks once local licenses and approvals are secured. The infrastructure partnership is already live; public availability in each jurisdiction will follow the pace of local regulatory clearances.

xStocks launched in June 2025 and were initially limited to U.S. stocks and ETFs available only to investors outside the United States. Payward reports the offering has grown to more than 500 tokenized assets and processed over $35 billion in transaction volume. xStocks remain unavailable to U.S. residents under current rules.

Each token represents one share held in regulated custody. Payward and GTN say the arrangement is designed to let financial firms offer tokenized products across currencies and market hours without rebuilding front- and back-office systems.

Ankit Shah, GTN’s Global Head of FinTech, commented in the announcement: “Financial institutions want to move into new asset classes and markets without rebuilding their technology. Our infrastructure lets partners like Payward launch quickly across 90+ markets and a full range of instruments, and it includes the sub-accounting technology Kraken needs to offer tokenised products.”

Mark Greenberg, global head of Payward Services, described the problem the partnership addresses: “For decades, we’ve accepted that capital markets should be fragmented by country, currency, and market hours. That’s a legacy financial infrastructure problem.” He added that tokenized assets can allow users to trade across borders without dealing with local market constraints: “Tokenized assets give users the ability to trade whatever they want, without worrying about localization.”

Other firms have launched or announced one-for-one tokenized equity products, and Payward has explored additional distribution channels, including an earlier collaboration with Nasdaq and a trial listing on Telegram’s TON Wallet. The agreement with GTN also leaves open the possibility of tokenizing asset classes beyond equities if local rules permit.