Nasdaq Invests $100M in Payward at a $21B Valuation
On September 10, Nasdaq announced that its investment arm, Nasdaq Ventures, is investing $100 million in Payward, the parent company of Kraken. The partnership aims to develop and launch the Equity Token (NET) framework by Q2 2027, focusing on tokenized equities within existing regulatory frameworks. The collaboration seeks to enhance global trading infrastructure for tokenized assets while maintaining market integrity through Nasdaq's surveillance technology across Payward’s platforms. Payward co-CEO Arjun Sethi emphasized the potential of reducing settlement times and improving capital efficiency in stock trades, highlighting over $2 trillion daily U.S. clearing activity. This move aligns with Kraken’s strategy to expand beyond crypto into multi-asset trading. The investment values Payward at $21 billion according to Bloomberg.
Topics: blockchain infrastructure financial market evolution tokenized stocks