BNY Eyes Partnership with Kraken Parent Payward for Digital Asset Infrastructure
Custody banking giant BNY is in talks with Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, over a potential partnership that could span digital assets and financial-market infrastructure. The proposed agreement would cover areas including crypto products, custody, wealth management, trading, payments, and infrastructure.
The partnership could be similar to the infrastructure component of Payward's recent agreement with Nasdaq, according to sources familiar with the matter. This deal would further Payward's push to connect its digital-asset operations with established financial institutions.
BNY has been developing tokenized deposits designed to support near-real-time onchain settlement between institutional market participants. The bank has also been investing in digital-asset infrastructure, including a $100 million investment from Nasdaq Ventures in Payward at a valuation of $21 billion.