Nasdaq Invests $100M in Payward to Drive Tokenized Equities

Nasdaq Ventures has agreed to invest $100 million in Payward, the parent company of leading global crypto platform Kraken. This investment will deepen a relationship first announced in March when Nasdaq planned to launch an equity token design with Payward.

The equity token design, called Nasdaq Equity Tokens (NETs), aims to put public companies at the center of ownership rights, transparency, and governance. The partnership between Nasdaq and Payward reflects their conviction that Kraken can play a crucial role in building infrastructure for tokenized equities and always-on markets.

Nasdaq's President, Tal Cohen, said 'The next era of market evolution will be defined by how efficiently and seamlessly capital and assets move across the financial system with durable, high-integrity liquidity.'