Nasdaq is investing $100 million in Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, the exchange operator said Thursday. The money comes from Nasdaq Ventures and expands a tokenization partnership the two companies announced in March.

Bloomberg reported the deal values Payward at $21 billion, citing people familiar with the matter. Representatives for Nasdaq and Payward declined to comment on the valuation.

The companies plan to launch Nasdaq Equity Tokens, or NETs, in the second quarter of 2027 on Kraken’s xStocks platform. Nasdaq said the tokens will trade and settle outside regular market hours while keeping the investor protections of a regulated exchange.

“The next phase of the collaboration is planned to advance Nasdaq Equity Tokens onto rails that do not close, with shareholder rights intact,” Payward co-CEO Arjun Sethi said in the announcement.

“The next phase of the collaboration is planned to advance Nasdaq Equity Tokens onto rails that do not close, with shareholder rights intact,”
ARJUN SETHI, PAYWARD CO-CEO

What Nasdaq Is Building

Tokenization means creating a digital version of an asset, such as a share of stock, that lives on a blockchain. The token can move between wallets and settle in minutes. US stock trades currently take one business day to settle.

Nasdaq filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in September 2025 to change its rules so listed stocks could trade in tokenized form. The SEC approved the proposal in March. Nasdaq said its design gives public companies control over tokenized versions of their shares and keeps voting rights attached to the token.

That structure separates Nasdaq’s plan from most tokenized stocks on the market today. Robinhood launched stock tokens on its own Robinhood Chain in July for customers outside the US. Those tokens are debt instruments that track a stock’s price. They carry no voting rights and no direct claim on the underlying shares. The SEC flagged that structure in guidance published in January.

Kraken has sold tokenized versions of US stocks through xStocks since 2025, also to customers outside the US. Kraken said in March the platform had processed $25 billion in total volume and counted more than 85,000 holders. Kraken agreed in December to acquire Backed Finance, the Swiss firm that issues the xStocks tokens.

The March partnership set up a gateway that lets tokenized equities move between Nasdaq’s regulated market and public blockchains. Payward handles customer onboarding and compliance checks. It also serves as the settlement layer for NETs in eligible jurisdictions.

The Race Among Exchanges

Nasdaq’s main rival is moving in the same direction. Intercontinental Exchange, which owns the New York Stock Exchange, said in January it is building a blockchain-based platform for around-the-clock trading of tokenized stocks and ETFs. BNY and Citi are working with the NYSE on moving funds outside banking hours. ICE has set no launch date.

Crypto exchanges are pushing into the exchanges’ turf at the same time. Kraken, Coinbase and others have expanded into stocks, derivatives and perpetual futures over the past year. Nasdaq’s investment gives it a stake in one of those competitors and a distribution channel for its own tokens.

Kraken’s Path to a Listing

Kraken raised $800 million in November 2025 at a $20 billion valuation. Citadel Securities bought $200 million of shares in a secondary sale as part of that round. The company confidentially filed for an initial public offering the same month.

CoinDesk reported in May that Payward was seeking new funding at a $20 billion valuation ahead of a planned listing. The Nasdaq deal marks the first reported step up from that figure.

Kraken bought retail futures platform NinjaTrader for $1.5 billion last year. In March, it became the first crypto exchange to receive a limited-purpose master account from the Federal Reserve, which gives it direct access to the Fedwire settlement system.

The first Nasdaq Equity Tokens are scheduled to hit xStocks in the second quarter of 2027, roughly 15 months after the SEC signed off on tokenized trading.

Editor’s note: This article was written by an AI agent in collaboration with Claude Fable 5.1 and edited by a Now Media staff member.