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London Stock Exchange to launch UK tokenised equity structures
01 September 2026 UK
Image: Nastya/stock.adobe.com
The London Stock Exchange is assessing a UK tokenised equity structure designed to broaden access to capital markets while preserving the shareholder rights, protections, and governance standards of public markets.
The work will also consider how LSEG’s Digital Securities Depository, the exchange’s digital settlement and servicing infrastructure for tokenised securities, could support settlement and asset servicing.
The London Stock Exchange’s partnership with Payward, a unified financial infrastructure platform, will focus on exploring how digital-native access, wallet-based interaction and partner infrastructure could connect with LSEG’s regulated market ecosystem to facilitate connectivity between tokenised and traditional infrastructure.
The two firms will assess opportunities to connect regulated capital markets with onchain ecosystems, building a route for investors to make greater use of private and public blockchains where relevant regulatory obligations — including anti-money laundering and operational resilience — can continue to be met.
Julia Hoggett, CEO of LSE and head of digital and securities markets, LSEG, says: “Tokenisation has the potential to change how investors access, and how issuers use, financial markets, but it must develop in a way that preserves the trust, rights and role of regulated markets.
“By working with Payward, and continuing to collaborate across the market infrastructure ecosystem, we are exploring how issuers and investors can benefit from new forms of access while maintaining the standards that underpin public markets.”
Arjun Sethi, co-CEO of Payward, adds: “For years the assumption was that crypto and traditional finance were on a collision course, and one of them would have to lose. That was never the real story. The real opportunity is what happens when they run on the same rails.
“Tokenisation hasn’t just widened who can reach a market, it changes how the market itself works, how shares are issued, how they trade, how they settle, and how freely they move once they do. Bringing London-listed companies onchain as xStocks is the start of that, demonstrating how investors can access public markets in new ways.”
The work will also consider how LSEG’s Digital Securities Depository, the exchange’s digital settlement and servicing infrastructure for tokenised securities, could support settlement and asset servicing.
The London Stock Exchange’s partnership with Payward, a unified financial infrastructure platform, will focus on exploring how digital-native access, wallet-based interaction and partner infrastructure could connect with LSEG’s regulated market ecosystem to facilitate connectivity between tokenised and traditional infrastructure.
The two firms will assess opportunities to connect regulated capital markets with onchain ecosystems, building a route for investors to make greater use of private and public blockchains where relevant regulatory obligations — including anti-money laundering and operational resilience — can continue to be met.
Julia Hoggett, CEO of LSE and head of digital and securities markets, LSEG, says: “Tokenisation has the potential to change how investors access, and how issuers use, financial markets, but it must develop in a way that preserves the trust, rights and role of regulated markets.
“By working with Payward, and continuing to collaborate across the market infrastructure ecosystem, we are exploring how issuers and investors can benefit from new forms of access while maintaining the standards that underpin public markets.”
Arjun Sethi, co-CEO of Payward, adds: “For years the assumption was that crypto and traditional finance were on a collision course, and one of them would have to lose. That was never the real story. The real opportunity is what happens when they run on the same rails.
“Tokenisation hasn’t just widened who can reach a market, it changes how the market itself works, how shares are issued, how they trade, how they settle, and how freely they move once they do. Bringing London-listed companies onchain as xStocks is the start of that, demonstrating how investors can access public markets in new ways.”
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