Kraken Parent Payward Partners with GTN to Expand xStocks Tokenized Equities to Hong Kong, UK, and South Korea

Kraken's parent company, Payward, has partnered with fintech infrastructure provider GTN to expand its xStocks tokenized equities platform internationally. The expansion begins with Hong Kong-listed shares before rolling out to the UK, South Korea, and Europe, subject to regulatory approvals. GTN will provide execution and custody across 90+ markets. This move intensifies competition with firms like Robinhood and Coinbase, amid projections from Citi that the tokenized securities market could reach $5.5 trillion by 2030.

xStocks international market expansion

• ▪The partnership plans to expand the xStocks framework beyond tokenized equities to include other asset classes over time.
• ▪The international expansion of xStocks will begin by tokenizing equities from Hong Kong, with plans to expand to the United Kingdom, South Korea, and continental Europe.
• ▪Payward, the parent company of cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, partnered with fintech infrastructure provider GTN to expand its xStocks tokenized equities platform beyond U.S. markets.
• ▪The expansion of xStocks into international markets and additional asset classes is subject to obtaining necessary regulatory approvals in each jurisdiction.

Regulatory licensing requirements

• ▪xStocks are issued by Backed Assets (JE) Limited and offered to eligible Kraken customers via Payward Digital Solutions Ltd. and Payward Europe Digital Solutions Ltd.
• ▪xStocks are not offered or available to residents or persons in the United States.

Payward-GTN partnership infrastructure

• ▪GTN connects financial institutions to more than 90 global markets across eight asset classes through a single API.
• ▪Once GTN acquires the required licenses in each market, tokenized xStocks products will be made available to GTN's institutional clients.
• ▪GTN will provide the regulated financial infrastructure for xStocks, including transaction execution, custody of backing assets, ledgering, and sub-accounting technology.
• ▪Payward, the parent company of Kraken, partnered with fintech infrastructure provider GTN on July 22, 2026, to expand its xStocks tokenization offering globally.
• ▪GTN provides sub-accounting technology required by Kraken to offer tokenized products.
• ▪The partnership between Payward and GTN is already live at the infrastructure level.
• ▪GTN will provide the underlying execution, custody, record-keeping, and ledgering infrastructure across more than 90 markets to support the global scaling of xStocks.

Multi-blockchain ecosystem integration

• ▪xStocks are designed to be portable across more than 100 centralized exchanges, self-custody wallets, and decentralized finance applications.
• ▪xStocks tokens maintain a one-to-one backing by holding the underlying traditional securities in regulated custody.

International tokenized equities rollout

• ▪The international expansion of xStocks aims to provide investors with extended trading availability and interoperability across exchanges, wallets, and decentralized finance applications.

xStocks platform growth metrics

• ▪Since launching in June 2025, xStocks has grown to over 500 tokenized assets and has amassed nearly 200,000 holders.
• ▪The xStocks platform has grown to support more than 500 tokenized securities, including U.S. stocks, exchange-traded funds, and initial public offering allocations.
• ▪The xStocks platform has accumulated nearly 200,000 token holders and has processed over $35 billion in transaction volume since its launch.
• ▪According to RWA.xyz, xStocks has tokenized $515 million worth of equities, making it the second-largest provider behind Ondo, which has tokenized $887 million.

Mainstream financial institution adoption

• ▪Robinhood expanded its tokenized stock offerings beyond European users, and Coinbase announced plans to launch its own on-chain stock token products.
• ▪The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation has begun testing tokenized securities infrastructure, while Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange have progressed separate blockchain initiatives.

Tokenized securities market projections

• ▪The xStocks platform debuted on Solana with 60 tokenized US stocks and ETFs before scaling to nearly 500 listed securities.
• ▪The xStocks platform was built by Payward in collaboration with Backed, offering tokens fully backed by underlying shares in regulated custody.
• ▪There is approximately $1.94 billion worth of tokenized equities in existence globally, according to data from RWA.xyz.
• ▪Citi estimated that the global tokenized securities market could grow to $5.5 trillion by 2030, which includes $2.6 trillion in tokenized equities.

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