Kraken’s xStocks are blockchain-based tokens, each backed one-to-one by a real company share held in regulated custody. Extending their reach beyond U.S. equities is a move to take tokenized stocks, a buzzy sector in the crypto market, to the next step.
"Financial institutions want to move into new asset classes and markets without rebuilding their technology,” Ankit Shah, GTN’s Global Head of FinTech, said in a statement. “Our infrastructure lets partners like Payward launch quickly across 90+ markets and a full range of instruments, and it includes the sub-accounting technology Kraken needs to offer tokenised products.”
The deal starts with Hong Kong-listed equities and expands from there to U.K., European, and South Korean stocks. Subject to regulatory approvals in each jurisdiction, it also opens the door to tokenizing asset classes beyond equities altogether.
According to the terms of the deal, GTN is providing the global regulated infrastructure for trade execution and custody, while Payward is leveraging its xStocks framework to tokenise international equities and bring them to blockchain networks.
Mark Greenberg, global head of Payward Services, named the problem the deal is supposed to fix. Tokenized assets give users the ability to trade whatever they want, without worrying about localization.
"For decades, we've accepted that capital markets should be fragmented by country, currency, and market hours. That's a legacy financial infrastructure problem," Greenberg said.
The partnership is live at the infrastructure level. Distribution to GTN's institutional clients follows once the required licenses are in place in each market.
Many big players are already moving in a similar direction. Robinhood launched its tokenized equities product through its own blockchain on July 1, and Coinbase is preparing a 1:1-backed offering through its Base network.
What separates the GTN deal is the scope of the map. Robinhood and Coinbase are chasing U.S. stocks. Payward is chasing everything else—starting with Hong Kong, and with GTN's 90-plus markets still to work through.
