Payward, the parent company of the cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, together with the London Stock Exchange (LSE), has announced the conversion of shares of a hundred of the largest British issuers into blockchain token format. This concerns digital instruments called xStocks with 1:1 backing, which guarantees a direct link to the underlying assets.
The token issuance opens access to these assets for both retail and institutional investors from more than 110 countries through Kraken's infrastructure and the xStocks Alliance partner network. Notably, residents of the United Kingdom are temporarily excluded from participation—this is a deliberate step driven by current regulatory frameworks that require additional approvals.
After receiving approval from financial authorities, the digital shares will be integrated into the new LSE 24 trading platform, focused on off-exchange sessions and 24/7 trading. This is not just an experiment: in LSE's strategic plans is the transition to primary securities listings directly on the blockchain, bypassing traditional clearing and settlement mechanisms.
This step marks the convergence of the classic stock market and decentralized technologies. It is obvious to me that such hybrid models will become a catalyst for regulators to reconsider approaches to asset tokenization. However, the key question is liquidity and market depth: can tokenized shares compete with traditional listings for capital flows? I believe that in the medium term we will see not just parallel existence, but a gradual replacement of outdated settlement infrastructures, if LSE manages to ensure legal clarity and operational reliability.