Exclusive | Nasdaq-Backed Payward Launches Tokenized Versions of European Stocks

A facts-only brief, written by a local AI model from this article in The Wall Street Journal, November 11, 2026. It may contain mistakes, and it is not the article: the full story is at wsj.com.

Payward, a Nasdaq-backed firm, launched tokenized versions of over 200 highly traded U.K. and European stocks under the xStocks brand, allowing investors to trade these digital assets 24/7 starting Wednesday on the Kraken platform and other exchanges. The company stated that it does not require consent from the underlying European issuers to tokenize their shares. Payward’s chief commercial officer, Mark Greenberg, expressed optimism that corporations will eventually accept the technology, aiming to create a unified worldwide trading environment accessible to all shareholders regardless of their geographic or financial location.

Background

• The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission created a framework in September for trading venues to offer tokenized stocks, though corporate issuers retain the right to block such versions.
• Payward received a $100 million investment from Nasdaq Ventures in September and previously launched tokenized U.S. stocks that were not available for domestic trading.
• While the London Stock Exchange declined to comment, Deutsche Boerse welcomed the move, with its head of digital assets describing the partnership as accelerating capital market transformation.
• Some U.S. companies, including J.P. Morgan and Coca-Cola, have opted out of the SEC’s tokenization plans, citing concerns about parallel markets and investor confusion.

Read the full article at wsj.com

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