Nasdaq Invests Big in Kraken Parent Payward
Nasdaq's venture arm has invested $100 million in Payward, the parent company of cryptocurrency exchange Kraken. The investment values Payward at a whopping $21 billion.
The deal expands on a partnership first announced in March 2026 between Nasdaq and Payward to build an equities transformation gateway linking regulated markets with blockchain networks. This will allow users to trade tokenized versions of Nasdaq-listed stocks, which carry the same voting rights as shares traded on the exchange.
Payward's co-CEO Arjun Sethi said that on-chain settlement removes the waiting period associated with traditional stock trade clearing, and described the next phase as putting tokenized Nasdaq equities on rails that do not close, with shareholder rights intact.