Nasdaq is putting $100 million into Kraken parent Payward, deepening an alliance designed to bring tokenized stocks closer to mainstream capital markets.
The investment from Nasdaq Ventures values Payward at approximately $21 billion, according to Bloomberg reporting cited by multiple outlets. More importantly, it expands a March partnership between Nasdaq and Payward to connect regulated equities with blockchain infrastructure.
The companies are developing Nasdaq Equity Tokens, or NETs, which Nasdaq currently expects to launch in the second quarter of 2027. Payward will connect the system with its existing xStocks infrastructure, while also adopting Nasdaq’s market-surveillance technology across crypto, equities, tokenized equities, futures and options.
Kraken’s Valuation Has Jumped Alongside xStocks
The $21 billion valuation is notable because Payward was reportedly seeking capital at around a $20 billion valuation in May, while earlier fundraising discussions had placed Kraken considerably lower.
Nasdaq is therefore buying into more than a crypto exchange.
Kraken has been aggressively expanding into equities, derivatives and tokenized assets. Its European stock rollout now gives eligible customers access to thousands of conventional U.S. shares alongside more than 700 xStocks.
The tokenized business has also scaled quickly. Payward said in March that xStocks had already surpassed $25 billion in transaction volume, including more than $4 billion settled on-chain, with over 85,000 holders. More recent Coinpaper coverage put xStocks transaction volume above $38 billion after its expansion across Europe.
That traction helps explain why Nasdaq is willing to invest directly rather than simply license technology.
Nasdaq Wants Stocks on Rails That Never Close
The bigger story is the changing structure of stock trading.
Nasdaq says its NET framework is intended to allow equities to move across different market environments while preserving ownership rights, governance and investor protections. Kraken would help distribute those assets through blockchain-based infrastructure.
Unlike some synthetic stock tokens, the planned Nasdaq products are expected to preserve shareholder rights such as voting, a major distinction as regulators and issuers debate what tokenized ownership should actually represent.
The timing is important. Tokenized-stock activity recently reached nearly $3 billion in weekly spot volume, with Robinhood Chain, BNB Chain and Solana among the leading networks. The rapid growth in tokenized stocks is increasingly forcing traditional exchanges to compete with crypto-native platforms on trading hours and settlement speed.
