GTN and Payward, the parent company of Kraken and developer of the xStocks tokenised equities framework, have entered into a partnership to expand the range of assets available through xStocks.

The announcement follows Payward's recent expansion of xStocks. In June, the company said it would allow eligible retail investors to participate in tokenised US IPO allocations through the framework. At the time, Payward said xStocks had processed more than $30 billion in transaction volume across more than 125,000 holders.

GTN Backs xStocks Beyond US Equities

Under the new partnership, the companies will initially bring Hong Kong-listed equities to the xStocks framework before expanding to the UK, European and South Korean equities. They said the collaboration is also intended to support future expansion into additional asset classes, subject to regulatory approvals.

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GTN will provide execution, custody and infrastructure for the traditional assets underlying the tokenised products. The company said its platform covers more than 90 markets through a single integration, enabling xStocks to expand beyond its existing focus on US-listed equities.

In addition, GTN will provide ledgering and record-keeping infrastructure to help issuers manage the underlying assets backing tokenised products. Subject to obtaining the required licences in each jurisdiction, GTN plans to make selected xStocks products available to its institutional clients alongside its existing investment offering.

Ankit Shah, Global Head of FinTech at GTN, said financial institutions want access to additional markets and asset classes without replacing existing technology. He said GTN's infrastructure supports expansion across "90+ markets" and includes the accounting technology needed for tokenised products.

xStocks Eyes Global Tokenised Asset Expansion

The companies added that the partnership could also broaden the range of assets available across the xStocks ecosystem, which is already distributed through more than 100 exchanges, self-custody wallets and decentralised finance applications.

Mark Greenberg, Global Head of Payward Services, said traditional capital markets remain fragmented by geography and trading hours. He said "the biggest asset class that hasn't been tokenized yet is the rest of the world" and that the collaboration is intended to bring "global capital markets onchain."

The partnership is already operational, the companies said, with distribution to GTN's institutional clients expected once the necessary regulatory licences are obtained. Launched about a year ago with tokenised US stocks and ETFs, xStocks has since expanded to more than 500 tokenised equities, ETFs and IPOs.