Payward, GTN push tokenized equities into global markets
Kraken parent Payward and infrastructure provider GTN are partnering to tokenize international equities, a move that brings tokenized real-world assets beyond US borders to institutional traders.
Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, has partnered with fintech infrastructure firm GTN to expand its xStocks tokenization platform into global markets. The collaboration will initially target equities listed in Hong Kong before branching into the UK, Europe, South Korea, and other international territories.
GTN will supply the foundational execution, custody, and record-keeping infrastructure required to operate across more than 90 global markets. The firm is actively working to acquire the required regulatory licenses in each target jurisdiction. Once approved, the tokenized xStocks will be distributed directly to GTN’s institutional clients.
The deal signals a maturation of the tokenized real-world asset sector, which has largely been constrained by a focus on US equities. By leveraging blockchain technology to represent foreign shares, the partnership attempts to solve a major friction point in traditional investing: cross-border market fragmentation.
"For decades, we've accepted that capital markets should be fragmented by country, currency, and market hours," said Mark Greenberg, Global Head of Payward Services. "That's a legacy financial infrastructure problem. The biggest asset class that hasn't been tokenized yet is the rest of the world, and our partnership with GTN is about changing that."
Payward acquired xStocks in December to build out this vision. The platform issues tokens that are backed 1:1 by traditional underlying securities held in custody. Crucially for traders, these tokens are built to be portable across more than 100 exchanges, digital wallets, and decentralized finance applications.
The platform has since grown into a major player in the niche. It currently tokenizes over 500 US assets and claims a user base of more than 200,000 holders. According to data from RWA.xyz, approximately $1.94 billion worth of tokenized equities exist globally.
xStocks accounts for $515 million of that total supply, securing its position as the second-largest provider in the space. It trails Ondo, which holds $887 million in tokenized equities. Meanwhile, competitors like Securitize and Superstate are taking a different approach by attempting to issue native onchain securities rather than creating tokenized representations of existing stocks.
