Kraken's xStocks adds 200 UK and EU shares as its assets top $1.1 billion

Kraken parent company Payward is adding more than 200 U.K. and European stocks to its xStocks platform, giving eligible crypto investors access to shares in some of the region's largest companies.

The additions include all 40 companies in Germany's DAX index, such as software maker SAP, industrial group Siemens and insurer Allianz, marking an expansion beyond the tokenized U.S. stocks that formed the core of xStocks’ offering.

Each token tracks a stock and is backed by shares held with a regulated custodian. Investment firm GTN handles trade execution and custody, while users can buy the tokens through Kraken or partner platforms and store them in crypto wallets.

Payward said xStocks now holds more than $1.1 billion in assets. Despite the addition of British and European companies, the tokens remain unavailable to investors in the U.K. and U.S.

The expansion follows a September agreement with the London Stock Exchange to tokenize its 100 largest listed companies. Trading on the exchange's LSE 24 platform is planned for 2027, pending regulatory approval.

Payward also plans to add hundreds of Hong Kong-listed stocks in the coming weeks.

xStocks are share-backed certificates offering synthetic exposure to stock prices, without ownership of the underlying companies. Since August, though, eligible holders of supported tokens have been able to submit proxy voting preferences through Broadridge, and dividend value is reinvested in additional tokens rather than paid out in cash.

That differs from the model planned by OKXICE, a joint venture of OKX and NYSE parent Intercontinental Exchange. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s innovation exemption for tokenized securities venues requires tokens to give holders the same rights and privileges as traditional shares of an equivalent class.

The exemption also explicitly excludes tokens a third party issues as its own security offering synthetic exposure to a stock.