Who is behind xStocks: Backed, Kraken and Payward

The issuer

Every xStock is issued by Backed Assets (JE) Limited, a Jersey special-purpose company. It is registered with the Jersey Financial Services Commission, holds its own bank and collateral accounts, and is responsible for KYC and anti-money-laundering checks under Jersey law ^[1], with AML oversight from Payward, Inc. Its base prospectus gives its sole business as issuing and redeeming financial instruments ^[2], and its legal documentation covers Backed's earlier bTokens as well as xStocks ^[3].

Under that prospectus, the products and holders' rights are governed by Jersey law; Swiss law governs only their form, as ledger-based securities. Liechtenstein's Financial Market Authority approved the prospectus on 8 May 2026, valid until 7 May 2027, and licensed distributors can use it across the European Economic Area ^[2][3].

Who holds what

Each product page on the issuer's site names its service providers, and each product's Final Terms set them out. For Tesla's xStock they are these ^[4][5]:

Service providers for TSLAx

Role	Provider
Tokenizer	The issuer itself, on Payward's systems (the product page still names Backed Finance AG)
Brokers	Alpaca Securities LLC, InCore Bank AG, Maerki Baumann & Co. AG
Custodians	Alpaca Securities LLC, InCore Bank AG, Maerki Baumann & Co. AG, GTN Europe Financial Services Limited
Security agent	Security Agent Services AG

On 28 September 2026 the issuer's proof-of-reserves data named Alpaca as the holder of the shares behind each of the ten largest xStocks ^[6].

Kraken and Payward

xStocks went live on 30 June 2025 as a partnership between Backed and Kraken, with Bybit and Solana apps such as Kamino, Raydium and Jupiter on day one ^[7]. On 2 December 2025 Bloomberg reported that Kraken was acquiring Backed Finance ^[8]; xStocks said the deal would bring issuance, trading and settlement of xStocks under one roof ^[9]. It completed around 5 January 2026, when Payward Europe Limited bought all of Backed Finance AG, the issuer's sole shareholder ^[2].

Today xStocks' X profile reads “xStocks by @Payward”, and its news calls the product Payward's tokenized equity framework ^[10][11]. Outside the European Economic Area, Kraken offers xStocks through Payward Digital Solutions Ltd, licensed by the Bermuda Monetary Authority; inside it, through Payward Europe Digital Solutions (CY) Ltd, regulated by CySEC ^[12][13].

The xStocks Alliance

The exchanges, blockchains, DeFi apps and infrastructure firms that integrate xStocks form what xStocks calls the xStocks Alliance ^[14]. On 28 September 2026 its ecosystem page listed 72 partners: 16 exchanges, 26 DeFi apps, 21 infrastructure providers and 9 blockchains ^[15].

Institutions around it

• Nasdaq: a planned gateway between permissioned and permissionless tokenized equity markets, announced in March 2026 ^[16].
• Franklin Templeton: seven of its ETFs, announced in May 2026 and all listed as xStocks by September ^[17][18].
• Fundrise: its VCX fund, which holds stakes in late-stage private companies, tokenized as VCXx ^[19].
• GTN: execution and custody in more than 90 markets, for xStocks beyond U.S. equities ^[20].