London Stock Exchange Partners With Payward to Put UK Blue Chips Onchain

The London Stock Exchange is partnering with Payward, the company behind crypto exchange Kraken and the xStocks tokenized-equities platform, to put some of the UK’s largest publicly traded companies on blockchain networks.

Tokenization is continuing to gain traction across traditional financial markets.

London Stock Exchange Group and Payward announced Tuesday that shares of major UK-listed companies will soon be represented through blockchain-based tokens.

Over the next several weeks, the 100 largest companies listed on the London Stock Exchange are expected to become available through Payward’s xStocks platform. Each token is backed on a one-for-one basis by the corresponding share and can be traded around the clock through centralized exchanges, self-custody wallets and blockchain-based applications.

The partnership is part of a broader push by financial institutions to move traditional assets onto blockchain infrastructure. Over the past several years, firms have increasingly explored tokenized versions of stocks, bonds, commodities and other real-world assets.

Traditional shares held through brokerage accounts generally settle through regulated market infrastructure during designated trading hours, involving multiple intermediaries and potentially taking days to complete. Tokenized shares can instead be transferred at any time, including directly to self-custody wallets or decentralized finance applications, while continuing to reflect the value of the underlying asset.

xStocks Expands Its Reach

Payward said the xStocks platform has already processed more than $40 billion in trading volume since launching just over a year ago. Almost $20 billion of that activity has been settled directly on blockchain networks, while the tokenized products now have more than 200,000 holders.

The partnership will give investors in more than 110 countries access to tokenized versions of UK-listed equities through blockchain infrastructure. UK residents, however, cannot currently access xStocks.

Pending regulatory approval, the London Stock Exchange plans to begin listing xStocks and supporting trading through LSE 24, its recently announced 24-hour trading venue.

The longer-term plan could see the venue support tokenized stocks from the US, Europe, UK and Hong Kong, as well as other asset classes as the platform develops.

The companies also intend to investigate the creation of equity tokens issued directly by the LSE. Under that model, LSE members could issue and administer shares onchain while maintaining the same ownership rights and fungibility as conventional equities.

Traditional Finance Embraces Blockchain

Payward co-CEO Arjun Sethi said the partnership challenges the long-held idea that crypto and traditional finance were destined to compete until one replaced the other.

LSE CEO Julia Hoggett took a more measured approach, emphasizing that tokenization needs to evolve without undermining investor protections, ownership rights or the role of regulated financial markets.

The growing use of tokenized assets is also opening discussions about using blockchain-based securities as collateral. Market participants are exploring whether tokenized assets could support lending and create additional liquidity in ways similar to how US Treasuries function within traditional financial markets.

London Stock Exchange Group shares fell about 2% in early London trading following the announcement.

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