Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, has partnered with global fintech firm GTN to expand xStocks beyond U.S. equities and into additional global markets, beginning with Hong Kong-listed shares.

The companies said Wednesday that the arrangement is intended to bring tokenized equities from Hong Kong, the U.K., Europe, and South Korea to blockchain networks through Kraken’s xStocks framework. GTN will provide regulated infrastructure for execution, custody, and record-keeping for the assets underlying each new token, while distribution to institutional clients will follow after the required regulatory approvals are secured in each market.

Kraken’s xStocks are blockchain-based tokens backed one-to-one by real company shares held in regulated custody. The product currently consists of U.S. stocks and ETFs and is available only to investors outside the United States. xStocks are not available to U.S. residents, according to Kraken’s availability terms. The custody and record-keeping layer is central to these products because the token is designed to mirror ownership exposure to an underlying share held through regulated market infrastructure, rather than replace the need for compliance in the relevant securities market.

The partnership marks the first move to extend xStocks outside the U.S. market. According to the companies’ release, xStocks launched in June 2025 with a catalog limited to U.S. stocks and ETFs. The offering has since grown to more than 500 tokenized assets and processed more than $35 billion in transaction volume.

“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.”

Under the terms of the deal, GTN will provide the global regulated infrastructure for trade execution and custody. Payward will use its xStocks framework to tokenize international equities and make them available on blockchain networks. The companies said the initial focus is Hong Kong-listed equities, with expansion planned into U.K., European, and South Korean stocks. Subject to approvals in each jurisdiction, the framework could also support tokenized asset classes beyond equities.

Mark Greenberg, global head of Payward Services, said the partnership addresses long-standing limits in traditional capital markets infrastructure.

“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 already live at the infrastructure level. GTN’s institutional distribution is expected to begin once the necessary licenses are in place in each relevant market. That approval process remains a practical constraint for tokenized securities, since equity issuance, trading, custody, and investor eligibility rules are set market by market.

The move places xStocks in a growing field of tokenized equity products. Robinhood launched its tokenized equities product through its own blockchain on July 1, while Coinbase is preparing a one-to-one-backed offering through its Base network. In March, Payward and Nasdaq announced a tokenized equities gateway targeting an early 2027 launch.

xStocks has also expanded to Telegram’s TON Wallet, a distribution channel aimed at testing whether broader retail access can help tokenized stocks reach larger scale.

Unlike Robinhood and Coinbase efforts focused on U.S. stocks, the GTN partnership gives Payward a route into international equities. The companies are starting with Hong Kong, with GTN’s infrastructure spanning more than 90 markets.