Nasdaq Injects $100 Million into Payward at $21 Billion Valuation

Nasdaq's venture arm has invested $100 million in Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken. The investment values Payward at $21 billion.

The deal is part of a broader push by U.S. exchange operators into blockchain infrastructure. Nasdaq announced plans in March to give publicly traded companies more control over their shares in tokenized form.

Kraken will distribute Nasdaq's tokenized stocks on its own platform as part of the funding agreement, allowing users to buy and own Nasdaq-listed stocks in a tokenized form with voting rights.