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Kraken Parent Payward Brings 200 UK and EU Stocks Onchain as xStocks
Payward, Kraken’s parent company, has added more than 200 UK and European shares to its xStocks tokenisation platform, expanding the range of traditional investments available as blockchain tokens. The launch matters because it extends the platform’s international reach, although the new tokens are not available to investors in the UK.
Each token is backed one-to-one by a share held by a regulated custodian, and can be traded on Kraken, other xStocks Alliance platforms and supported blockchains including Solana, Ethereum and TON. The additions take xStocks beyond 1,500 tokenised stocks, ETFs and IPOs; Payward says the platform has over $1.1 billion in assets, $45 billion in transaction volume and more than 550,000 holders. The shares are the first delivered through Payward’s partnership with brokerage firm GTN, with hundreds of Hong Kong listings expected in the coming weeks.
In short
- Payward added more than 200 UK and European shares to xStocks.
- The tokens are backed one-to-one by shares held by a regulated custodian.
- UK investors cannot trade the new tokens.
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The case for
Adding tokenised shares could make a wider range of investments easier to access and trade across platforms and blockchains, while one-to-one backing by shares held with a regulated custodian offers a clear link to the underlying assets. The expansion may also encourage more competition and innovation in financial services, with Payward’s partnership potentially bringing further international listings to investors.
The case against
Tokenised shares may introduce risks and complexity without giving investors the same rights or protections as directly holding shares, and custody arrangements do not remove every concern about access, trading or the tokens’ operation across platforms. The launch’s reach is also limited for UK investors, who cannot access the new tokens, while the scale and activity figures cited by Payward do not by themselves establish how suitable the products are for investors.
Explained simply
Stocks are shares in companies, while exchange-traded funds (ETFs) hold a collection of investments. Tokenisation creates digital tokens linked to these assets, allowing them to be traded on certain blockchain networks. A custodian holds the underlying shares.
Payward is Kraken’s parent company, and xStocks is its platform for these tokens. The shares are being supplied through a partnership with brokerage firm GTN, and can be traded on Kraken and other supported platforms. The tokens are not available to investors in the UK.
The expansion brings more UK and European companies within reach of xStocks users elsewhere. It also shows how traditional investments are being offered through blockchain systems, while access depends on where an investor lives and which platforms support the tokens.
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