The London Stock Exchange is moving closer to offering LSE tokenized stocks, after Payward, the parent company of Kraken, announced plans to tokenize the top 100 London-listed equities under its xStocks brand. Which leaves an obvious question: what does this mean for investors who cannot yet access the product in the one market it most prominently names?
How the LSE Tokenized Stocks Arrangement Would Work
Under the agreement, the 100 largest companies listed on the London Stock Exchange would be issued as xStocks through Payward’s tokenization framework, according to Yahoo Finance. The launch is tied to LSE 24, the exchange’s planned 24-hour trading venue, and is subject to regulatory approval. The LSE has separately stated plans to introduce overnight trading in the first half of 2027, initially targeting exchange-traded products, as it looks to attract international retail investors and compete with crypto markets that never close.
If regulators sign off, LSE members could trade tokenized securities representing companies from several countries, including the US and members of the European Union, around the clock. The tokenized shares would be available to investors across more than 110 countries. There is a particular wrinkle worth noting: xStocks currently remain unavailable to UK investors, despite the product being anchored to the London market.
xStocks have accumulated more than $40 billion in total volume since launching just over a year ago, suggesting the product has built real traction before this particular partnership was announced.
The Case for Round-the-Clock Trading, and the Caveats
Joel Hugentobler, Cryptocurrency Analyst at Javelin Strategy & Research, set out what the appeal could look like in practice. ‘Investors could gain around-the-clock access, move holdings between exchanges, wallets, and on-chain applications, and benefit from faster settlement with less time being tied up between trades waiting for it to settle,’ he said. He pointed to assets like crude oil futures on Hyperliquid as an example of demand for weekend liquidity, noting that volume has increased significantly over the weekend in that market.
Hugentobler added that the LSE could combine those benefits with regulated infrastructure, shareholder protections, reliable pricing, and even voting rights, but qualified that ‘all of these will depend on whether deep liquidity develops across these markets.’ That conditional matters. Extended hours mean little if the order book is thin.
The structural mechanics of tokenized stocks also carry risks that regulators will need to weigh carefully. Tokenized stocks are not direct equity ownership: they are held by a special-purpose company and backed by the shares they represent. Many retail investors may not fully grasp that distinction.
The World Federation of Exchanges (WFE) addressed a letter to leading global securities commissions to warn about precisely these risks, pointing out that representations of stocks were often listed by unregulated brokers and crypto firms. The WFE’s concern, though, was principally directed at tokenized stocks traded outside regulated markets. A product operating within the LSE’s regulated infrastructure would sit in a different category entirely, which is part of what makes this proposal worth watching.
Regulatory Approval Remains the Central Variable
The entire structure of this arrangement is conditional. Regulatory approval is required before any tokenized equities can trade on LSE 24, and the 2027 timeline reflects that uncertainty. It is not a confirmed launch date; it is a target framed around a process that has not concluded.
LSE tokenized stocks represent one of the more concrete proposals to bridge regulated equity markets and blockchain-based settlement infrastructure. Whether deep liquidity follows, and whether regulators are persuaded that the investor protection framework is adequate, will shape what this actually becomes. The first half of 2027 is when the overnight platform is due to begin. That is the next real milestone.
