Nasdaq’s $100M Bet on Kraken to Win the Tokenized Equities Race
Nasdaq takes $100M stake in Kraken's parent Payward at $21B valuation and plans tokenized equities launch in Q2 2027.
Nasdaq is investing $100 million in Payward (Kraken's parent) through Nasdaq Ventures as the two companies deepen their collaboration on infrastructure for tokenized equity trading, distribution and settlement. The expanded relationship also includes a new market surveillance agreement.
➡️ Why this matters
Tokenized equities is poised to become the next breakout tokenization category after reaching $3B in less than a year.
While traditional exchange veneus dominate the trading of traditional equities, crypto distribution channel is needed for tokenized equities whose main value add is providing access to US financial markets for non-US investors.
Kraken and Binance demonstrate the potential of that distribution. Payward reported more than $25B in cumulative xStocks transaction volume in March, while Binance announced that bStocks had surpassed $600M AUM and 23B in trading volume three months after laucnh.
Nasdaq’s planned Equity Tokens brings an important upgrade on the existing bStocks and xStocks: they are designed to preserve shareholder governance rights and market protections. More details in Tokenized Stocks: Nasdaq vs Onchain Markets
The deal also fits a broader pattern. Robinhood recently agreed to take stakes in Crypto.com and OG.com as part of its prediction markets partnership, another example of distribution and exchange infrastructure becoming more closely aligned through equity ownership.
Nasdaq is securing a key distribution partner in a rapidly evolving exchange market, while Kraken gains a major infrastructure partner in its race to become the “everything exchange.”
As traditional and crypto markets converge, these partnerships could determine who captures the next wave of trading activity.
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