Nasdaq Invests $100M in Payward as Crypto VC Funding Reaches $151M
The cryptocurrency and blockchain industry saw significant investments this past week, totaling $151 million in disclosed financing across five deals. The largest deal was a $100 million investment agreement between Nasdaq Ventures and Payward, the parent company of Kraken.
Nasdaq's venture arm will connect its proposed Nasdaq Equity Tokens design with Payward's xStocks infrastructure. This partnership aims to facilitate the ownership and trading of tokenized shares in the US market. The $100 million investment agreement is included in the week's total, despite not being a completed payment.
Latitude raised $35 million in a Series A funding round led by Oak HC/FT. The company builds infrastructure that uses stablecoins for settlement while delivering payments to recipients through local banking and payment systems.