Key facts
- Payward, Kraken's parent company, is expanding its xStocks platform to include equities from Hong Kong, the UK, and South Korea.
- The expansion aims to bring global capital markets onchain, making geography irrelevant to investing.
- GTN will provide execution, custody, and recordkeeping for the securities backing the tokens.
- xStocks currently supports over 500 tokenized securities and has processed more than $35 billion in trading volume.
- The products remain unavailable to U.S. investors.
Payward, the parent company of cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, is expanding its xStocks platform to offer tokenized equities from markets outside the U.S., including Hong Kong, the U.K., and South Korea. This strategic move, facilitated by a partnership with investment infrastructure provider GTN, aims to bring global capital markets onto the blockchain, making investing less constrained by geography.
Mark Greenberg, global head of Payward Services, stated that the company is working to tokenize "the biggest asset class that hasn't been tokenized yet" – the rest of the world's markets. The expansion into international equities follows the successful launch of tokenized U.S. stocks and ETFs on the xStocks platform, which has supported over 500 securities and processed more than $35 billion in trading volume. The products, however, remain unavailable to U.S. investors.
The move by Payward comes amid a surge in competition within the tokenized equities space. Companies like Robinhood have expanded their offerings, and Coinbase is also planning similar initiatives. Major financial infrastructure providers such as the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), Nasdaq, and the New York Stock Exchange are also exploring tokenization, signaling a growing industry conviction in its potential to enhance capital markets through faster settlement, 24/7 trading, and greater efficiency.
Citi projects that tokenized securities could reach $5.5 trillion by 2030, with tokenized equities accounting for $2.6 trillion. By offering access to a broader universe of companies, including those in Asia's AI supply chain, xStocks aims to attract global retail traders. GTN will provide essential services like execution, custody, and recordkeeping for the underlying securities.