Nasdaq Doubles Down on Blockchain Trading with $100M Kraken Parent Bet

Nasdaq's venture investment arm has invested $100 million in Payward, the parent company of cryptocurrency exchange Kraken. This deal values Payward at $21 billion and is part of a partnership between the two companies that was struck in March.

The $100 million investment from Nasdaq comes with a strategic goal: to enable the trading of shares as tokens on blockchain technology. Payward's xStocks service, which issues blockchain versions of listed shares, has already processed over $25 billion in trades by March.

This deal is significant because it shows that Nasdaq is not just investing in another cryptocurrency exchange, but rather in a key supplier for its own tokenized stock trading business. This partnership will allow Nasdaq to settle equity token trades and verify who is using them.