The London Stock Exchange has partnered with Payward to explore tokenised UK equity structures and list xStocks.
The London Stock Exchange has announced plans to launch UK tokenised equity structures and has formed a partnership with Payward, a financial infrastructure platform, to examine how regulated market infrastructure and digital-native distribution could support the next phase of tokenised public equity markets.
The London Stock Exchange is assessing a UK tokenised equity structure intended to broaden access to capital markets while preserving shareholder rights, protections, and governance standards associated with public markets. As part of this work, the exchange will examine how the London Stock Exchange Group's (LSEG) Digital Securities Depository (LSEG DSD) could support settlement and asset servicing, subject to regulatory approval.
The initiative sits within LSEG's wider efforts to modernise market infrastructure and support the digitalisation of capital markets. Related initiatives include LSE 24, a 24-hour trading venue announced by LSEG in 2026, the LSEG DSD, and the Digital Settlement House (LSEG DiSH). Through these combined efforts, the London Stock Exchange aims to develop a rights-preserving model for tokenised public equities that could expand investor access, offer issuers alternative routes to market, and support the movement of assets across increasingly digital financial markets while reducing fragmented pools of liquidity.
Scope of the Payward partnership
According to the official press release, the partnership with Payward will focus on how digital-native access, wallet-based interaction, and partner infrastructure could connect with LSEG's regulated market ecosystem, with the aim of enabling connectivity between tokenised and traditional infrastructure. The two companies will explore how regulated capital markets could connect with on-chain ecosystems, creating a potential route for issuers and investors to use private and public blockchains while continuing to meet regulatory obligations, including AML and operational resilience requirements.
Separately, as part of the collaboration and subject to regulatory approval, the London Stock Exchange intends to list xStocks and begin trading them on LSE 24 in 2027.
Julia Hoggett, CEO of LSE plc and Head of Digital and Securities Markets at LSEG, said tokenisation has the potential to change how investors access, and how issuers use, financial markets, but noted that this must occur in a way that preserves the trust, rights, and role of regulated markets. She added that the collaboration with Payward, alongside continued work across the market infrastructure ecosystem, forms part of exploring how issuers and investors can benefit from new forms of access while maintaining existing market standards.
In addition, Arjun Sethi, Co-CEO of Payward, said the assumption that crypto and traditional finance were on a collision course has proven incorrect, and that tokenisation changes how markets function, including issuance, trading, settlement, and asset mobility. He said bringing London-listed companies on-chain as xStocks demonstrates new forms of access to public markets, and that connecting this access with established market infrastructure represents the next step in the process.
The announcement adds to a series of initiatives by LSEG focused on digital market infrastructure, reflecting continued exploration by established exchanges of blockchain-based settlement and distribution models for public equities.
