Nasdaq Ventures Invests $100M in Kraken Parent Payward for Tokenization

Nasdaq Ventures is investing $100 million into Payward, the parent company of cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, to accelerate the development of tokenized equity infrastructure. The deal values Payward at approximately $21 billion and centers on integrating Nasdaq's market surveillance technology into Payward's trading venues.

"The next era of market evolution will be defined by how efficiently and seamlessly capital and assets move across the financial system with durable liquidity," said Tal Cohen, Nasdaq President, in a statement regarding the partnership.

Expanding Market Surveillance and Asset Classes

Under the agreement, Payward will deploy Nasdaq's proprietary market surveillance technology across its portfolio. This includes crypto assets, cash equities, futures, options, and the newly prioritized tokenized equities. The move brings institutional-grade oversight to Payward's suite of financial products to address regulatory requirements for cross-asset trading.

The Move Toward On-Chain Settlement

Central to the partnership is the Nasdaq Equity Token (NET) framework, which is scheduled for a second-quarter 2027 launch. This framework modernizes the clearing and settlement process, which historically acts as a bottleneck for capital efficiency.

"Cutting that wait from two days to one in 2024 released $3 billion. On-chain settlement removes the wait. 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, Payward Co-CEO.

By moving to on-chain settlement, the companies aim to reduce the collateral requirements held by intermediaries during the settlement cycle. In traditional finance, T+1 settlement (the standard where trades are finalized one business day after execution) still requires firms to hold capital as a buffer against counterparty risk. Real-time on-chain settlement eliminates this gap, potentially freeing up billions in capital that would otherwise be tied up in the clearing process.

Strategic Implications for Equity Markets

The investment signals a convergence between legacy financial infrastructure and blockchain-based trading systems. By combining Nasdaq’s market surveillance tools with Payward’s crypto-native rails, the partnership creates a platform capable of handling high-frequency equity trading with the immediate finality of blockchain transactions. This infrastructure maintains shareholder rights, such as voting and dividends, while operating on a 24/7 basis, a departure from the limited operating hours of traditional stock exchanges.