The parent company of crypto exchange Kraken Payward and Nasdaq will jointly develop an infrastructure connecting tokenized equity markets with decentralized blockchain networks.
According to Monday announcement, xStocks framework will power the permissionless infrastructure layer and enable tokenized stocks to interact with open blockchain networks while remaining aligned with the securities trading on Nasdaq’s markets.
Poised for Nasdaq Equity Tokens
Another regulated venue already live with xStocks is 360X, the EU-regulated trading venue backed by Deutsche Börse, where several xStocks tokenized equities Equities Equities can be characterized as stocks or shares in a company that investors can buy or sell. When you buy a stock, you are in essence buying an equity, becoming a partial owner of shares in a specific company or fund.However, equities do not pay a fixed interest rate, and as such are not considered guaranteed income. As such, equity markets are often associated with risk.When a company issues bonds, it’s taking loans from buyers. When a company offers shares, on the other hand, it’s selling pa Equities can be characterized as stocks or shares in a company that investors can buy or sell. When you buy a stock, you are in essence buying an equity, becoming a partial owner of shares in a specific company or fund.However, equities do not pay a fixed interest rate, and as such are not considered guaranteed income. As such, equity markets are often associated with risk.When a company issues bonds, it’s taking loans from buyers. When a company offers shares, on the other hand, it’s selling pa Read this Term (including CRCLx, GOOGLx, NVDAx, SPYx and TSLAx) started trading in early 2026.
In addition, xStocks has a partnership with CycleX, which uses the xStocks framework and infrastructure to support trading in tokenized equities on its own platforms. CycleX is a Real World Asset tokenization and trading platform that focuses on turning traditional financial assets into on-chain investment products for global investors.
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Nasdaq’s equity token design is expected to become operational in the first half of 2027, subject to regulatory approvals. The tokens will reportedly be backed by issuer-sponsored shares and structured to preserve issuer control, existing regulatory frameworks, and shareholder rights such as voting and dividends.
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Payward Services will provide KYC and AML onboarding for clients accessing tokenized equities via Kraken, ensuring that users interacting with the gateway meet applicable compliance Compliance In finance, banking, investing, and insurance compliance refers to following the rules or orders set down by the government regulatory authority, either as providing a service or processing a transaction. Compliance concerning finance would also be a state of being following established guidelines or specifications. This designation can also encompass efforts to ensure that organizations are abiding by both industry regulations and government legislation. Understanding ComplianceCompliance is a In finance, banking, investing, and insurance compliance refers to following the rules or orders set down by the government regulatory authority, either as providing a service or processing a transaction. Compliance concerning finance would also be a state of being following established guidelines or specifications. This designation can also encompass efforts to ensure that organizations are abiding by both industry regulations and government legislation. Understanding ComplianceCompliance is a Read this Term requirements in relevant jurisdictions.
Compliance, Access and Regulatory Track
Nasdaq’s tokenization work with Payward builds on a proposal the exchange submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in September 2025 to allow tokenized versions of listed stocks and exchange-traded products to trade alongside traditional shares.
Under that proposal, both tokenized and conventional instruments would settle through the Depository Trust infrastructure so that they remain interchangeable.
Kraken’s parent company Payward effectively controls the xStocks framework after acquiring Backed Finance, the original issuer of the tokenized equities that now power its tokenized securities strategy.
As previously reported by Finance Magnates, the deal was pitched as a way to unify issuance and trading under one roof, with Alpaca providing brokerage and custody for the underlying stocks and ETFs that back xStocks’ on-chain instruments.
Since launch less than a year ago, xStocks has processed more than 25 billion dollars in total transaction volume, including over 4 billion dollars settled on-chain, and now counts more than 85,000 unique holders across supported networks.
