Nasdaq Invests Big in Blockchain Rails for Traditional Stocks

Nasdaq Ventures has invested $100 million in Kraken parent Payward as part of a partnership to move traditional stocks onto blockchain networks.

The investment, announced on September 10, deepens a relationship between Nasdaq and Payward that began in March. The two companies aim to connect regulated securities markets with public blockchain networks in jurisdictions where the products are permitted.

Nasdaq plans to work with Payward's xStocks infrastructure to launch its Equity Tokens (NETs), which will represent shares of publicly traded companies in digital form. These tokens will preserve shareholder rights, regulatory protections, and corporate actions tied to the underlying security.

The investment values Payward at $21 billion, according to Bloomberg, although Nasdaq did not disclose a valuation in its announcement. Nasdaq targets the second quarter of 2027 for the NET rollout, which would put the companies' vision of continuously accessible tokenized stock markets to a larger test.