Nasdaq Bets Big on Blockchain, Investing $100M in Kraken's Parent Company
Nasdaq's venture arm has invested $100 million in Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken. The deal values Payward at $21 billion and marks another step in Nasdaq's effort to connect traditional stock markets with blockchain infrastructure.
The investment was made through Nasdaq's venture arm and builds on a partnership between the two companies that was first announced in March. As part of the deal, Kraken will distribute tokenized versions of Nasdaq-listed stocks on its own platform, allowing users to buy and hold these stocks in tokenized form while keeping the same voting rights as regular equity holders.
PAYWARD co-CEO Arjun Sethi said that the next phase of the collaboration is planned to advance Nasdaq Equity Tokens onto rails that do not close, with shareholder rights intact. This move follows a $200 million investment from Deutsche Börse in April and a Kraken partnership with the London Stock Exchange.
The adoption of Nasdaq's surveillance technology by Payward will cover its crypto, equities, tokenized equities, futures, and options venues. The total distributed value of tokenized stocks now stands at more than $2.9 billion, according to data from RWA.xyz.