The London Stock Exchange plans a tokenized version of itself
LSEG says it intends to list xStocks on a planned round-the-clock venue in 2027 and is designing a UK tokenized equity structure meant to keep shareholder rights intact, with Kraken's parent as its partner.
What happened
London Stock Exchange Group said on 1 September that it is assessing 'a UK tokenised equity structure designed to broaden access to capital markets whilst preserving the shareholder rights, protections and governance standards that underpin public markets today', and announced a partnership with Payward, the parent of Kraken, to explore how 'regulated market infrastructure and digital-native distribution can support the next stage of tokenised public equity markets'. On timing the release says only that 'in 2027 the London Stock Exchange intends to list xStocks and start trading them on LSE 24', its planned round-the-clock venue. Julia Hoggett, chief executive of London Stock Exchange plc, and Arjun Sethi, co-chief executive of Payward, are both quoted. The release names no number of companies; Blockhead and The Cryptonomist both report the intention as covering the hundred largest London-listed companies, and that figure is theirs.
Why it matters
Tokenized equities have so far been built beside regulated exchanges rather than by them, as wrappers issued by crypto venues over shares the wrapper does not itself list. Here the listing venue proposes to do it, which changes what the instrument can be: a structure designed by the exchange can in principle carry the voting and governance rights that a wrapper drops, and it settles into infrastructure that already has a rulebook. That is also why the language is careful. The exchange is assessing a structure and intends to list, and an exchange that says intends about its own market is describing something it does not yet have permission to do.
What is not settled
Nothing here is approved. The release ties the 2027 listing to a venue that does not yet trade and a structure still being assessed, and does not say what regulatory permissions either needs. The count of companies is the reports' and not the exchange's. Neither the release nor the reports settle whether UK investors will be able to buy the tokenized form of shares in UK companies, which one report says they currently cannot, and no volume or holder figures for existing xStocks activity are given by either party here.
Institutions in this story
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London Stock Exchange Group plc
Exchange
Said on 1 September that it is assessing a UK tokenized equity structure meant to preserve shareholder rights, and that it intends to list xStocks on LSE 24 in 2027. Both are stated as intentions; the release names no permissions and no companies.
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Kraken
Exchange
Its parent, Payward, is the partner named in the release, which puts an established tokenized-equity distributor beside the venue whose companies would be represented rather than opposite it.
On the record
London Stock Exchange says it intends to list tokenized equities in 2027
London Stock Exchange Group said on 1 September 2026 that it is assessing a UK tokenized equity structure meant to preserve shareholder rights and governance standards, and named Payward, Kraken's parent, as a partner in exploring tokenized public equity markets. It says it intends to list xStocks on LSE 24, its planned round-the-clock venue, in 2027. No companies are named and no permissions are stated.