Kraken Teams Up With Nasdaq To Bridge Regulated And Decentralized Equity Markets

Kraken's parent company Payward has partnered with Nasdaq to build an infrastructure layer that connects regulated tokenized equity markets with permissionless blockchain networks. This new gateway will be powered by Kraken's xStocks product, which has already processed over $25 billion in total transaction volume.

The partnership aims to create a seamless flow of tokenized equities between the two environments, enabling users to move tokenized assets between regulated and open ecosystems. Payward will handle Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) onboarding for participants accessing the bridge through Kraken.

Arjun Sethi, co-CEO of Payward and Kraken, stated that this effort targets a structural limitation in how equities function today. He argued that tokenized equities could operate as collateral within unified trading systems, supporting spot markets, cross-margin trading, derivatives, perpetual futures, and financing environments.

The xStocks product has already seen over $4 billion of its volume settled on-chain to date, with over 85,000 unique holders across supported networks. The gateway is expected to go live in the first half of 2027, with Nasdaq's planned issuer-sponsored equity token design being powered by xStocks.