Nasdaq Drops $100M on Payward at $21B Valuation
Nasdaq has invested $100 million in Payward, the parent company of cryptocurrency exchange Kraken. This investment values Payward at a whopping $21 billion. The move is part of Nasdaq's expansion into tokenized equities and always-on financial infrastructure.
The investment builds on a collaboration announced in March between Nasdaq and Payward to develop an equity-token framework. This framework aims to support the trading and movement of tokenized shares across regulated and on-chain environments.
The partnership will focus on infrastructure for the distribution, trading, and settlement of tokenized equities. Payward brings its crypto-native trading platform and the infrastructure behind its xStocks ecosystem, while Nasdaq contributes market infrastructure, surveillance technology, and expertise in regulated capital markets.