Cointelegraph said in an X post, citing The Wall Street Journal, that Payward planned to launch tokenized versions of more than 200 stocks listed in the United Kingdom and Europe. Payward’s own announcement now provides additional detail, saying its xStocks product has deployed all 40 DAX constituents as part of the wider European expansion.
DAX stocks move onto blockchain rails
Payward said in its announcement that xStocks gives investors access to tokenized versions of Germany’s largest listed companies. The company described the expansion as supporting global, 24/7 trading, with the products available through more than 110 markets and selected venues.
The DAX is a major benchmark for the German economy and includes companies such as manufacturers, financial institutions, technology businesses and healthcare groups. Bringing all of its constituents into one tokenized product range gives the initiative a broader institutional profile than a limited pilot involving only a few well-known stocks.
Payward said each xStock is backed 1:1 by the corresponding underlying share, which is held with a regulated custodian. That structure is intended to connect the blockchain based instrument to a conventional securities position. It also raises practical questions about how holders benefit from corporate actions, including dividends, stock splits and other changes affecting the underlying shares.
The claim of 24/7 trading requires some qualification. Tokenized instruments may be transferable or tradable outside the opening hours of the exchange where the underlying shares are listed, but that does not mean every venue operates continuously or provides the same level of liquidity.
“Bringing the DAX 40 fully onchain through our work with Deutsche Börse Group breaks that barrier, allowing someone in Southeast Asia or Latin America to finally hold tokenized Siemens or Allianz from the same wallet they already use, and trade whenever they like, including the hours when Frankfurt is asleep.”
Deutsche Börse Group said that tokenized versions of all 40 DAX stocks would be available on 360X. The group also noted that trading hours vary by venue and that xStocks are not the same as direct ownership of the shares.
Exposure rather than ownership
Kraken’s own product disclosures set out an important limitation. Its availability page says xStocks are issued by Backed Assets (JE) Limited and offered through Payward entities. The products provide tokenized exposure to the relevant shares rather than direct ownership of the underlying securities.
The distinction is significant for investors and regulators. A shareholder who owns a conventional share generally receives rights defined by the issuer and the relevant securities law. Those rights can include voting, dividend entitlements and legal claims against the issuer or an intermediary. A tokenized exposure product may instead create a contractual claim against the issuer of the token or another entity in the structure.
Kraken’s disclosure also says xStocks are not available in the UK or the United States. That means the expansion can cover shares listed in those regions without making the products available to retail investors located in either jurisdiction. Availability depends on the customer’s location, the relevant Payward entity and local rules governing securities and investment products.
This distinction will be important as European regulators apply existing securities frameworks to blockchain based instruments. Whether a product is called a token, a synthetic asset or a digital representation does not by itself determine its legal treatment. Authorities may examine the rights attached to the instrument, how it is marketed and whether it gives investors an economic interest in a security.
Institutional infrastructure and oversight
The expansion is also linked to a broader relationship between Payward and traditional market infrastructure providers. Nasdaq said in its statement that it had deepened its relationship with Payward through investment and cooperation on tokenized equity infrastructure, market surveillance and controls designed to support market integrity.
Nasdaq’s support reflects institutional interest in the technology, but its statement also emphasized governance, regulatory compliance and investor confidence. Those conditions may determine whether tokenized equities develop into a significant financial market or remain a niche access product for crypto users.
For Payward, the commercial appeal is clear. Tokenized stocks can be distributed through digital asset infrastructure, potentially allowing transfers between compatible platforms and extending trading access beyond the operating hours of traditional exchanges. They may also allow a crypto exchange to offer a broader range of assets without building a conventional brokerage interface for every market.
The model still faces questions about pricing, liquidity, custody and settlement. Investors will need to know how closely tokens track the underlying exchange price, how market makers operate when the relevant stock market is closed and what happens if the custodian, token issuer or trading venue encounters financial or operational difficulties.
The supplied sources contain support for Payward’s expansion from Deutsche Börse and Nasdaq, but no opposing statement or regulatory objection. That absence does not resolve the legal and market structure issues. It means only that the material available for this report presents the initiative from the company and its institutional partners, while the final terms, launch timetable and jurisdictional reach remain subject to further clarification.
Sarah Thompson is not a person. No notebook, no deadlines, no face behind the name — just a byline this newsroom publishes under. Here is the production line underneath it, because a name beside a portrait reads like a journalist, and this one is not one.
The models. Writing: gpt-5.6-luna. Out on the live web: gpt-5.6-luna and gpt-5.6-terra. Pictures: gpt-image-1. Swap one in the newsroom and this line swaps with it — it is read off the machines, not typed here.
How a story is made
- Research. The searching model reads around the story, pointed at primary sources — the filing, the post, the repository — rather than at somebody else's write-up of them.
- Writing. The writing model drafts it against what was found, at Sarah Thompson's usual length and in Sarah Thompson's usual register.
- The loop. A reviewer reads the draft and sends it back with notes. Then reads it again. A piece can go round several times before it leaves the building.
- Enrichment. A quotation has to appear word for word on the page it is taken from. A chart may only use figures that appear in the source it cites. Whatever fails is dropped, and the reason is kept.
- Fact check. A last pass hunts for claims the article makes and its sources do not.
- A human stop. Sensitive subjects are held for a person to read before publication, and a person can kill any of it at any point.
If that sounds less like a newsroom and more like a factory: quite. It is called Press Factory.
This article was generated using AI and published automatically without human pre-publication review.
Without human check
How this article was made
The article was produced by the Grandmonts Media News Engine using automated research, drafting and verification workflows. No human editor reviewed the article before publication. Grandmonts Media remains responsible for the published content. Errors can be reported at office@grandmonts.cz.