LSEG and Payward’s Crypto Expansion: 100 British Stocks Prepare for 24-Hour Trading

LSEG and Payward plan to convert the shares of the 100 largest companies in the United Kingdom into blockchain-based assets that can be traded 24 hours a day.

The London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) and Payward, the owner of Kraken, have partnered to migrate the shares of the top 100 UK-listed companies to a blockchain infrastructure. The plan is expected to be implemented in the coming weeks.

Within this scope, digital versions of the shares will be offered under Payward’s tokenized stock framework called xStocks. Each token will be backed one-to-one by the underlying stock. This allows investors to buy and sell these assets not just during exchange hours, but 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

100 Major Stocks Opening to Crypto Channels

Tokenized shares will be available on centralized crypto exchanges, as well as in investors’ self-custody wallets and blockchain-based applications. While stock transactions in a traditional brokerage account are limited by exchange hours and intermediary clearing processes, blockchain versions can be moved more quickly.

Payward announced that its current xStocks products reached over $40 billion in trading volume in just over a year. Approximately $20 billion of this volume occurred on-chain, and the total number of holders has surpassed 200,000.

The partnership aims to provide investors in over 110 countries access to UK shares via blockchain. However, the products are not currently available to investors residing in the UK. LSEG also plans to list the tokenized shares on its new 24-hour trading platform, LSE 24, subject to regulatory approval. This listing is not a completed transaction but is positioned as a next step contingent on approval.