Nasdaq Invests $100 Million in Kraken Parent Payward at $21 Billion Valuation (September 10)

Nasdaq's venture arm is investing $100 million in Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, according to Decrypt. The deal values Payward at $21 billion and extends a partnership struck in March to distribute tokenized Nasdaq-listed equities on Kraken's platform.

Under the arrangement, Kraken customers will be able to hold Nasdaq-listed equities in token form with the same voting rights as shares traded on the exchange. According to Decrypt, most tokenized equity products give holders price exposure only; Nasdaq's design puts issuers at the center and has built a gateway with Kraken to move tokenized equities between regulated and on-chain venues. Kraken already offers tokenized equities through Payward Services, its business-to-business arm.

Nasdaq is one of several major traditional market operators moving into crypto infrastructure through direct investment. Intercontinental Exchange, which owns the New York Stock Exchange, invested in OKX at a $25 billion valuation in March, taking a board seat and agreeing to open NYSE tokenized equities markets to OKX's 120 million accounts. Deutsche Börse then paid $200 million for 1.5% of Payward in April, according to reporting from Decrypt.

Nasdaq plans to launch its own token in Q2 2027, according to Decrypt. The tech exchange operator has been building out tokenized equity infrastructure as a channel to extend its listed securities into on-chain venues.

Payward's valuation has shifted across funding rounds. The company raised $800 million at a $20 billion valuation in November 2025 and used the same $20 billion valuation in April when agreeing to buy derivatives exchange Bitnomial. Deutsche Börse's April stake, valued at $200 million for 1.5%, implied about $13.3 billion by Bloomberg's calculation, according to Decrypt. Payward filed a confidential S-1 in November 2025, then shelved the listing in March 2026, suggesting regulatory or market conditions may not yet support public listing of a crypto exchange parent. In March 2026, Kraken became the first crypto firm granted access to the Federal Reserve's core payments system, per Decrypt.