Nasdaq Pours $100M into Kraken Parent Payward at Record $21B Valuation

Nasdaq's venture arm has invested $100 million in Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken. This deal values Payward at a staggering $21 billion.

The investment comes from Nasdaq's existing partnership with Kraken, which was struck in March. As part of this deal, Kraken will distribute Nasdaq's tokenized stocks on its platform, allowing customers to access these shares in token form with the same voting rights as ordinary shares.

This is not the first time an established exchange operator has taken a stake in a crypto exchange this year. Intercontinental Exchange, which owns the New York Stock Exchange, invested in OKX at a $25 billion valuation in March, and Deutsche Börse paid $200 million for 1.5% of Payward in April.

Nasdaq plans to launch its own token in the second quarter of next year, according to sources.