Nasdaq Invests $100 Million in Payward to Advance Tokenized Equities
Nasdaq has agreed to invest $100 million in Payward, the parent company of global cryptocurrency platform Kraken. The investment is part of Nasdaq's strategy to advance tokenized equities and always-on markets by connecting traditional financial systems with decentralized networks.
The partnership between Nasdaq and Payward aims to support a new model for trading tokenized public equities, which would keep public companies at the center of ownership rights, transparency, and corporate governance. The initiative is part of Nasdaq's broader effort to modernize market infrastructure while maintaining investor protections and market integrity.
Nasdaq expects to launch its Equity Tokens framework, known as NETs (Nasdaq Equity Tokens), in the second quarter of 2027, subject to the development of necessary operational and commercial infrastructure. The companies plan to continue connecting the NETs design with Payward's xStocks ecosystem, creating infrastructure for tokenized equities to move across different market environments.
The investment also follows Nasdaq's August launch of its Digital Liquidity Networks (DLN) markets business, which brings together liquidity platforms, tokenization capabilities, and financial technology solutions serving the digital-assets ecosystem. Nasdaq is increasingly building infrastructure around the potential convergence of conventional securities markets and digital financial networks.