Nasdaq invests $100 million in Kraken parent company Payward at $21 billion valuation

Nasdaq's (NDAQ) Ventures invested $100 million in Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, the major U.S. global electronic stock exchange said Thursday. The investment brings Payward’s valuation to $21 billion, people familiar with the matter previously told Bloomberg.

Payward’s plans to raise funds were first reported by CoinDesk in May, when two people with knowledge of the matter revealed that Payward was seeking new capital at a $20 billion valuation.

Nasdaq views Kraken as an investment to support its development of tokenized market infrastructure, the exchange said.

Kraken will distribute Nasdaq’s tokenized stocks on its own platform as part of the funding agreement. The aim is to allow users to buy and own Nasdaq-listed stocks in a tokenized form, although with the same voting rights as regular equities that trade on Nasdaq’s exchange.

“The next phase of the collaboration is planned to advance Nasdaq Equity Tokens onto rails that do not close, with shareholder rights intact," said Arjun Sethi, co-CEO of Payward.

Nasdaq announced plans in March to give publicly traded companies more control over their shares in tokenized form. It started working with Kraken on the infrastructure to bridge tokenized equities between regulated and onchain markets.

The deal is part of a broader push by U.S. exchange operators into blockchain infrastructure. NYSE is building its own venue for 24-7 trading of tokenized stocks and ETFs.

UPDATED (Sept. 10 at 11:46 UTC): Changing the lead adding information from Nasdaq’s official statement.

Tokenized equities lead RWA inflows as the market recovers; Binance's bStocks hit ~$118.5M in two months, now #2 issuer and ~90% of on-chain equity DEX volume.

Tokenized equities lead RWA inflows as the market recovers; Binance's bStocks hit ~$118.5M in two months, now #2 issuer and ~90% of on-chain equity DEX volume.

Tokenized equities lead RWA inflows as the market recovers; Binance's bStocks hit ~$118.5M in two months, now #2 issuer and ~90% of on-chain equity DEX volume.