Nasdaq Bets Big on Tokenized Stocks with $100M Investment in Kraken Parent

Nasdaq has invested $100 million in Payward, the parent company of cryptocurrency exchange Kraken. This investment will help develop new ways to trade tokenized versions of stocks.

The collaboration between Nasdaq and Payward builds on their earlier work with Nasdaq Equity Tokens (NETs) and xStocks ecosystem. It also follows the Securities and Exchange Commission's approval of a Nasdaq rule change that permits certain securities to trade and settle in tokenized form.

Payward will use Nasdaq's market surveillance tools across its trading platforms to monitor for potential manipulation and other trading abuses.