Summary
Payward (Kraken's parent) is extending its xStocks tokenized-equities framework beyond U.S. markets to Hong Kong, U.K., European and South Korean equities via a partnership with infrastructure provider GTN. The expansion shifts tokenized equities from a U.S.-replication game to a global-markets play, opening access to high-flying Asian AI-supply-chain names popular with global retail traders.
Key Points
- Payward expanding xStocks to Hong Kong, U.K., European and South Korean equities, subject to regulatory approvals.
- Partner: GTN, which connects to 90+ global markets, providing execution, custody and recordkeeping; may also offer xStocks to its institutional clients.
- xStocks scale: 500+ tokenized securities, $35B+ trading volume, ~200,000 holders.
- Products remain unavailable to U.S. investors.
- Started last year with tokenized U.S. stocks and ETFs.
- Competitive set: Robinhood (expanded tokenized stocks beyond Europe), Coinbase (planning stock tokens), DTCC (testing tokenized securities infrastructure), Nasdaq and NYSE tokenization initiatives.
- Market size: Citi estimates tokenized securities could reach $5.5T by 2030, including $2.6T in tokenized equities.
- Model debate: third-party issuer buys/custodies shares then mints tokens (xStocks) vs. native on-chain issuance — drawing increasing regulatory and infrastructure attention.
- Partnership lays groundwork to expand xStocks beyond equities into other tokenized asset classes.