Nasdaq and Kraken Team Up on Tokenized Equities Gateway
Nasdaq has partnered with crypto exchange Kraken and its subsidiary Backed to develop an equities transformation gateway. The gateway aims to connect traditional stock market infrastructure with blockchain-based networks.
The initiative is built on a tokenization proposal Nasdaq filed with U.S. securities regulators in September 2025. This proposal outlined the exchange's ambition to support equity tokenization while preserving issuer control throughout the process.
Nasdaq president Tal Cohen said, 'tokenization has the potential to unlock the benefits of an always-on financial ecosystem,' improving how investors access markets and how issuers engage with shareholders.
The partnership connects Nasdaq's market infrastructure with the xStocks ecosystem, creating interoperability between financial systems and decentralized networks. The program is expected to be operational in the first half of 2027.