Nasdaq has invested $100 million in Payward, Kraken’s parent company, through Nasdaq Ventures. The company announced a $100 million investment in Payward, which is the parent of crypto exchange Kraken. The investment comes from Nasdaq Ventures and aims to strengthen ties between the two firms as they focus on building infrastructure for tokenized equities, always on markets, and deeper links between financial systems and decentralized networks.
It builds on a March agreement to develop Nasdaq Equity Tokens, which the companies say will preserve ownership rights, transparency and governance for public companies. Now, this agreement adds another layer, with both companies expanding their work on systems for distributing, settling, and trading tokenized equities.
Nasdaq and Payward Deepen their Partnership
Nasdaq framed the investment as a bet on Payward’s long-term role in market infrastructure and the role Kraken will play in updating financial markets. Tal Cohen, who is the President of Nasdaq, said that the next phase of market growth relies on how smoothly capital and assets can move through the financial system, with strong liquidity in place.
The partnership draws on each company’s strengths. Payward brings Kraken’s crypto native trading platform and its xStocks infrastructure layer. Nasdaq contributes its expertise in regulated market infrastructure and market surveillance technologies, along with its broader experience in financial markets. Both firms are working to connect their capabilities as traditional and digital markets become more intertwined.
Payward will also adopt Nasdaq’s market surveillance technology, aimed at ensuring market integrity across all of Payward’s trading venues. This brings traditional-market oversight tooling into Payward’s venues.
The investment arrives after Nasdaq launched its Digital Liquidity Networks (DLN) markets business in August. DLN brings together liquidity platforms, tokenization technology, and fintech solutions for the digital asset world. This latest move with Payward ties into those bigger plans to set up infrastructure for markets that span all kinds of financial landscapes.
Tokenized Equities Move Towards the Next Phase
Nasdaq and Payward are preparing for the next stage of their work on Nasdaq Equity Tokens. With this investment, both the companies will keep working on the operational and commercial framework to connect NETs to Payward’s xStocks ecosystem.
Nasdaq expects to launch NETs in the second quarter of 2027. The companies say they have already laid the foundation for tokenized equities to flow between different markets, while keeping their intended shape for issuers and investors.
The next step is about the practical systems needed for wider use: distribution, settlement, trading support for tokenized equities, and interoperability across NETs and Payward’s xStocks ecosystem. The goal is broader adoption, bringing together various parts of the financial market infrastructure.
Nasdaq’s outlook is driven by the idea that the lines dividing mainstream and digital markets are fading. The company also points to demand for always on, programmable liquidity. In this context, tokenized equities are just one piece of a wider push to build infrastructure that lets assets and liquidity move freely across connected markets.
Still, Nasdaq said that some expected benefits are looking ahead, not guaranteed. The company made clear that forward-looking statements are not promises for future performance, actual results might vary because of risks and uncertainties like carrying out strategic initiatives, market and economic changes, geopolitics, regulation, interest rates, competition in the U.S. and abroad.
Nasdaq added that it does not have to publicly update forward looking statements if there is any new information or events happen in the future.
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