Payward Launches More Than 200 Tokenized UK and European Stocks Under xStocks
Key Facts
Payward announced on November 11, 2026, the launch of the first batch of tokenized stocks representing assets listed in the United Kingdom and the European Union, expanding the xStocks framework beyond the United States. The first wave includes more than 200 of the most heavily traded companies in the two markets, the company said. Payward said additional listings will be tokenized in stages, making the launch the start of a phased expansion rather than a final list. This brings the total number of tokenized assets under xStocks to more than 1,500, according to the company’s statement. The new tokens have been available for trading through Kraken and participating xStocks Alliance platforms since launch day.
The announcement extends the partnership between Payward and the London Stock Exchange announced on September 1, 2026, which provided for the 100 largest companies listed on the exchange to be made available as xStocks. Payward said at the time that the tokens represent the traded shares and are backed 1:1, meaning each token corresponds to one share, according to its description of the product. The company said xStocks had surpassed $40 billion in total trading volume in just over a year through September 1, of which more than $20 billion was settled on-chain, with more than 200,000 holders. These figures provide context on activity under the framework before the addition of the new British and European companies. They remain figures reported by Payward for its product, however, and do not specify the expected trading volume for the new batch.
Payward says the tokens are available to investors in more than 110 markets, but availability does not include investors resident in the United Kingdom or the United States and other markets. In its September announcement, the company said investors in more than 110 markets could access tokenized British stocks, with UK residents excluded at the time. This means that listing British shares does not automatically make the tokens available to investors in the United Kingdom. The current announcement also describes access through Kraken and Alliance platforms without mentioning any change to these geographic restrictions in the available information. Investor eligibility remains tied to the market in which they reside, under the availability terms announced by the company.
The move marks a distinction between two stock-tokenization tracks associated with Payward and Nasdaq. On September 10, 2026, Nasdaq Ventures approved a $100 million investment in Payward, the parent company of the Kraken platform, and the two companies announced the Nasdaq Equity Tokens framework, or NETs, with a launch expected in the second quarter of 2027. Payward said Nasdaq technology would be used to monitor trading across its platforms, including cryptocurrencies, stocks, tokenized stocks, futures and options. The xStocks batch announced on November 11 is a launch under Payward’s existing framework, and its announcement does not describe it as a launch of NETs tokens. Nasdaq presented a design for tokens in March 2026 that placed issuers at the center of ownership rights, and said its program and related services aim to be operationally ready for issuers starting in the first half of 2027.
On the London Stock Exchange track, Payward said the exchange intends in 2027 to list xStocks and begin trading them on the LSE 24 platform, subject to regulatory approvals. The September partnership announcement had also tied support for trading on the same platform to meeting the regulatory approval requirement. The announcement does not set a more precise date than the target year, and does not establish that trading on the London Stock Exchange will begin as soon as the tokens become available through Kraken and Alliance platforms. Payward also said its partnership with GTN handles global execution and custody of the traditional assets backing each token. It added that hundreds of Hong Kong-listed stocks will follow in the coming weeks, in another expansion under the plan for sequential additions.
Payward places this expansion within a broader effort to extend the use of tokenized assets across applications and platforms. The company quoted its general manager, Val Gui, as saying its ambition is to make xStocks “the global standard for bringing real-world assets on-chain.” Kraken announced on September 10, 2025, that it was making more than 60 tokenized stocks available to eligible customers in the European Union, in a rollout that reached customers in more than 140 countries. The November 11 announcement adds stocks listed in the United Kingdom and the European Union, and says the tokens are available through Alliance platforms from day one. The next announced step for trading these tokens on the London Stock Exchange remains subject to regulatory approval and is targeted for 2027.