Nasdaq Drops $100M on Kraken Parent in Tokenized Stock Power Play – Bitcoin News

The investment, announced Sept. 10, adds financial backing to a relationship Nasdaq and Payward established in March. Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter, reported that the investment values Payward at $21 billion, although Nasdaq did not disclose a valuation in its announcement.

Nasdaq Puts $100 Million Behind Kraken’s Blockchain Rails

The deal centers on Nasdaq Equity Tokens, or NETs, which are designed to represent shares of publicly traded companies in digital form. Unlike cryptocurrency tokens that merely track a stock’s price, Nasdaq’s planned tokens are intended to preserve shareholder rights, regulatory protections, and corporate actions tied to the underlying security.

Nasdaq plans to work with Payward’s xStocks infrastructure to connect regulated securities markets with public blockchain networks in jurisdictions where the products are permitted. Payward will also adopt Nasdaq’s market-surveillance technology across cryptocurrency, equities, tokenized equities, futures, and options. Nasdaq is targeting the second quarter of 2027 for the NET rollout.

“The next era of market evolution will be defined by how efficiently and seamlessly capital and assets move across the financial system with durable liquidity,” Nasdaq President Tal Cohen remarked on Thursday. Cohen added that the partnership would help build a more connected financial system while maintaining “trust, transparency, and integrity.”

xStocks Bridges Wall Street and Public Blockchains

The technical groundwork was laid out on March 9, when Nasdaq and Payward announced plans for an Equities Transformation Gateway powered by xStocks. The system is intended to let eligible investors move tokenized equities between regulated markets and open blockchain networks while retaining the rights and pricing tied to the underlying shares.

Payward said xStocks had already processed more than $25 billion in total transaction volume when the partnership was announced, including more than $4 billion settled onchain, with more than 85,000 unique holders. Payward Services is expected to handle know-your-customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) checks for users accessing Nasdaq Equity Tokens through its platform.

Payward and Kraken Co-CEO Arjun Sethi argues blockchain settlement could remove some of the waiting and collateral requirements built into traditional stock clearing. “Onchain settlement removes the wait,” Sethi said, adding that the companies plan to move Nasdaq Equity Tokens onto “rails that do not close, with shareholder rights intact.”

Sethi added:

“With xStocks, the goal is to make equities natively interoperable across regulated financial systems and open blockchain networks, so customers around the world can access the same underlying assets through a more continuous, programmable, and liquid market structure.”

Nasdaq’s Investment Tightens a Growing Wall Street Alliance

The $100 million commitment also arrives as Payward builds deeper ties with traditional financial firms. Citadel Securities agreed to invest $200 million at a $20 billion valuation in November 2025, while Deutsche Börse invested $200 million in April 2026 for an approximately 1.5% fully diluted stake. Payward also confidentially filed for a U.S. initial public offering in November 2025.

Payward’s business has expanded alongside those deals. The company reported $508 million in adjusted revenue for the second quarter of 2026, up 17% from a year earlier, along with $310 billion in platform volume and $40 billion in assets on its platform. It has also acquired businesses spanning tokenized equities, derivatives, stablecoin payments and token infrastructure.

Regulators Hold the Key to the Next Phase

The partnership reflects a wider push by established exchanges to bring securities onto blockchain infrastructure rather than build every component themselves. Deutsche Börse already owns a stake in Payward, the London Stock Exchange has worked with xStocks, and other major exchange operators are pursuing their own digital-market strategies.

The biggest questions now concern regulation and execution. Nasdaq and Payward still must navigate how token transfers are treated under securities rules, how voting and corporate actions function onchain and where investors will be allowed to move tokenized stocks onto open blockchain networks. The immediate milestone is the planned second-quarter 2027 launch of Nasdaq Equity Tokens, which would put the companies’ vision of continuously accessible tokenized stock markets to a much larger test.