Nasdaq to invest $100 million in Kraken parent Payward as firms expand partnership

Nasdaq announced on Thursday that its Ventures arm agreed to invest $100 million in Payward, the parent company of Kraken, as the firms bolster their work on tokenized equities and market infrastructure.

As part of an expanded partnership, Payward will adopt Nasdaq’s market surveillance technology across its portfolio of trading venues, including crypto, equities, tokenized equities, futures, and options, the company said in a statement. The investment values Payward at $21 billion, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

The companies are also advancing Nasdaq Equity Tokens, or NETs, with an expectation to launch in the second quarter of 2027. Earlier this year, Nasdaq announced plans to develop the framework and connect it with Payward's xStocks ecosystem.

"More than $2 trillion of stock trades run through the U.S. clearing system every day," Arjun Sethi, Co-CEO of Payward, said in the statement. "Onchain settlement removes the wait. The next phase is planned to advance Nasdaq Equity Tokens onto rails that do not close, with shareholder rights intact."

Nasdaq President Tal Cohen said the expanded relationship reflects the company's conviction that Payward can play a role in building infrastructure that supports capital movement while preserving trust and transparency.

The companies began their partnership in March 2026, when they said they would build an equities transformation gateway linking regulated markets with blockchain networks. 

Nasdaq said at the time its equity token design and related distributed-ledger services would become operational beginning in the first half of 2027.