21X and Stellar Open Regulated Pathways for Tokenized capital markets

21X, Europe’s first fully regulated Distributed Ledger Technology based trading and settlement system (DLT TSS), today announced the launch of 21X on the Stellar network as part of its multichain expansion. This collaboration was formally announced at Fireblocks SPARK’25 in Barcelona, an event which brought together leading financial institutions and technology partners - underscoring the growing momentum behind institutional adoption of on-chain finance.

This strategic collaboration will enable financial institutions to list and trade tokenized securities on Stellar for the first time on a regulated secondary market venue in the European Union (EU).

This expansion marks the official launch of 21X’s multichain strategy, positioning the company as a technology-agnostic market infrastructure provider. With its unique EU DLT Regime license, 21X is authorized to operate across multiple public blockchains, meeting the diverse needs of the institutional market.

Following the launch of its secondary market on the 8th September 2025, 21X has now chosen to extend its operations to the Stellar network, making it the second public blockchain available to participants on 21X. The platform will be available to investors by the end of 2025. 

This integration brings issuers and investors speed, scale, and security — with Stellar as the network for liquid, compliant tokenized markets. Furthermore, both the Stellar network and 21X are already directly accessible via the Fireblocks infrastructure, allowing institutions to connect to this new regulated market through their existing workflows.

Its robust infrastructure is also aligned with regulatory standards, applicable for securities and stablecoins on 21X. The mature Stellar ecosystem, with an established base of issuers, tokenized assets, and regulated stablecoins, provides a strong foundation for a liquid and active market.

For institutions looking to tokenize and trade financial instruments, this collaboration creates a powerful new opportunity. By listing on 21X using the Stellar network, institutions can leverage a first-of-its-kind, on-chain central limit order book (CLOB) to offer true secondary market liquidity for their tokenized stocks, bonds, and funds. The custom CLOB, built natively on Stellar, enables deterministic matching and atomic settlement in compliant stablecoins, providing an unparalleled and direct trading experience.

Max J. Heinzle, CEO of 21X, commented: “Our multichain strategy is driven by the needs of the industry. Institutions want to use the blockchains that provide the best combination of performance, compliance, and ecosystem readiness. The Stellar network delivers on all three, making it a natural and compelling choice for our next set of rails. By building a chain-agnostic regulated secondary market for financial instruments, we are not just expanding our reach; but creating a global pathway for the tokenization of real-world assets.”

Denelle Dixon, CEO and Executive Director at the Stellar Development Foundation, added: “Stellar is a leader in tokenization of real-world assets because the network was built for the issuance and transfer of real-world assets at scale. The Stellar network is where the first-ever regulated money market fund launched and 21x's first-ever regulated secondary market coming to Stellar is further proof that the Stellar network is the network for institutional-grade tokenized finance.”

With Stellar joining as a blockchain network partner, 21X is poised to deliver on its mission of revolutionizing capital markets through regulated, blockchain-based trading and settlement. This launch is a critical step in providing institutions with the choice and flexibility they need to participate in the future of finance.

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About 21X

21X is a Frankfurt-based financial institution at the forefront of revolutionizing capital markets through the use of blockchain technology. On 8th September 2025, 21X opened the first ever fully regulated distributed ledger technology trading and settlement system (DLT TSS) trading venue in the EU, positioning the company as a leader in the transition from traditional to tokenized asset-based capital markets.

21X enables atomic trading without counterparty or credit risk through smart contract-based issuance, trading and settlement of tokenized stocks, bonds, and funds.

See the short explainer video on 21X and our blockchain-based exchange here.

The Stellar Network

The Stellar network is a decentralized, fast, scalable, and uniquely sustainable blockchain built for financial products and services. It offers builders smart contracts functionality and a protocol optimized for payments, with a design intended to keep fees low and to provide transaction speeds that can scale with increased adoption. Financial institutions and innovators worldwide issue assets and settle payments on the Stellar network, which has processed billions of operations with millions of accounts since the network was first launched.