Overview
- Payward told reporters Wednesday that it is working with investment infrastructure provider GTN to bring Hong Kong‑listed shares onto its xStocks tokenized‑equities platform, with U.K., European and South Korean listings expected to follow subject to approvals.
- GTN will handle execution, custody and recordkeeping for the underlying shares that back xStocks tokens while Payward uses Backed Assets (JE) Limited and licensed Payward entities to issue and distribute the tokens.
- xStocks already supports more than 500 tokenized securities, has processed over $35 billion in trading volume and has nearly 200,000 holders, but the products remain unavailable to U.S. investors under current rules.
- Payward acquired Backed Finance in December 2025 and has coordinated with market players such as Nasdaq on an ‘Equities Transformation Gateway’ to link exchange plumbing with blockchain settlement as part of its broader build‑out.
- Regulatory approvals in each market are the key constraint for rollout and the expansion intensifies competition with other tokenization efforts from firms and market infrastructure providers that are testing similar models.