Nasdaq Bets $100 Million on Kraken Parent Payward to Put Wall Street Stocks Onchain

Nasdaq is deepening its push into tokenized markets with a $100 million investment in Payward, the parent company of Kraken. The deal expands an existing partnership between the two companies to build Nasdaq Equity Tokens, connect them with Payward’s xStocks ecosystem and create infrastructure capable of moving traditional equities across blockchain networks without stripping investors of shareholder rights.

The investment, announced September 10 through Nasdaq Ventures, signals that one of the world’s largest stock-market operators sees tokenization as more than an experiment. Nasdaq and Payward are now targeting a second-quarter 2027 launch for their tokenized-equity infrastructure. 

Nasdaq Is Putting $100 Million Into Payward

The agreement will see Nasdaq Ventures invest $100 million in Payward, which operates Kraken and the infrastructure supporting xStocks.

The companies didn’t disclose the valuation attached to the investment, but the money comes alongside a significant expansion of their existing relationship. 

The partnership now covers three major areas:

• Development of Nasdaq Equity Tokens, or NETs
• Integration with Payward’s existing xStocks ecosystem
• Adoption of Nasdaq’s market-surveillance technology across Payward’s crypto, equity, tokenized-equity, futures and options venues

Wells Fargo served as Nasdaq’s exclusive capital-markets adviser on the transaction.

Nasdaq Equity Tokens Are Coming in 2027

Nasdaq and Payward expect NETs to launch during the second quarter of 2027, although that timeline remains subject to the companies successfully completing the required infrastructure and regulatory work. 

The goal is bigger than simply creating blockchain tokens that track stock prices.

Nasdaq wants NETs to preserve the characteristics investors expect from actual equities, including shareholder rights and issuer protections, while making those assets compatible with always-on blockchain infrastructure.

That’s an important distinction from some tokenized-stock products already available in crypto markets.

Many existing products provide economic exposure to a stock without making the token holder a legal shareholder of the underlying company.

Nasdaq is pursuing what it calls an issuer-centric model, designed to keep companies involved in how their equity is represented and traded onchain. 

Kraken’s xStocks Will Help Connect the Two Worlds

Payward already has significant experience with tokenized equities through xStocks.

The platform creates 1:1-backed representations of publicly traded stocks that can move across crypto exchanges and blockchain networks.

Nasdaq and Payward initially announced their collaboration in March, proposing an equities transformation gatewaythat could connect Nasdaq’s regulated market infrastructure with the xStocks ecosystem. 

The idea is to make it possible for equities to move between traditional regulated markets and onchain environments while preserving regulatory compliance, price integrity and issuer protections.

Payward co-CEO Arjun Sethi argues that blockchain settlement could eliminate one of the biggest inefficiencies remaining in stock markets — waiting for trades to settle.

According to Nasdaq, more than $2 trillion in stock trades pass through the U.S. clearing system every day, with approximately $10 billion to $20 billion in collateral held against unsettled obligations. 

Moving settlement onchain could potentially reduce some of that waiting period and capital requirement.

Nasdaq Wants Stock Markets That Never Close

The partnership is also part of Nasdaq’s broader effort to develop always-on financial infrastructure.

Crypto markets operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Traditional U.S. equities still revolve around exchange sessions, clearing windows and settlement schedules.

Nasdaq’s Digital Liquidity Networks division is working on infrastructure intended to allow capital, assets and liquidity to move more continuously across global markets. 

Tokenized equities could become an important piece of that system.

Instead of simply extending traditional trading hours, blockchain rails could eventually allow ownership and settlement to move continuously across different financial platforms.

Kraken Is Getting Nasdaq’s Surveillance Technology Too

The partnership isn’t only about putting stocks on blockchains.

Payward will also deploy Nasdaq’s market-surveillance technology across its trading businesses, including:

• Crypto
• Traditional equities
• Tokenized equities
• Futures
• Options

That’s particularly significant as crypto platforms move deeper into regulated financial markets.

Nasdaq’s surveillance systems are designed to identify suspicious trading activity and support market integrity. Bringing those tools into Payward’s expanding multi-asset infrastructure could help the company make the case that tokenized markets can offer some of the safeguards expected from traditional exchanges.

Payward Is Quietly Building a Bridge Between Crypto and Wall Street

The Nasdaq investment is the latest in a series of major deals involving Payward.

Earlier this month, the company partnered with the London Stock Exchange to tokenize the 100 largest LSE-listed companies through xStocks, with plans to eventually explore native tokenized equities carrying the same rights as conventional shares. 

Payward also recently partnered with SoFi, connecting Kraken with SoFi’s 24/7 settlement network and adding Kraken Prime as a source of digital-asset liquidity for SoFi. 

Together, those partnerships put Payward in an interesting position.

It isn’t simply operating Kraken as a crypto exchange anymore. The company is increasingly becoming an infrastructure layer connecting banks, stock exchanges, tokenized assets and crypto markets.

Wall Street Isn’t Fighting Tokenized Stocks Anymore

Nasdaq’s $100 million investment may be more important symbolically than financially.

For years, tokenized stocks were largely created by crypto companies trying to replicate Wall Street assets on blockchain networks.

Now one of Wall Street’s most important market operators is investing directly in the company building the infrastructure.

And Nasdaq isn’t simply allowing third parties to create synthetic versions of its listed stocks. It’s working toward a system where companies themselves can participate and where investors can potentially retain the rights associated with traditional shares. 

That represents a major shift in the tokenization race.

Kraken spent years bringing crypto assets to traders. With $100 million from Nasdaq and partnerships spanning the London Stock Exchange and SoFi, its parent Payward is increasingly helping bring the traditional financial system onto crypto rails.