Nasdaq invests $100 million in Kraken parent Payward at $21 billion valuation
Nasdaq’s Ventures arm invested $100 million in Payward, Kraken’s parent, at a $21 billion valuation, expanding their tokenized-equities partnership.
Nasdaq invests $100 million in Kraken parent Payward at $21 billion valuation
Nasdaq’s Ventures arm agreed to invest $100 million in Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, in a deal that values the firm at $21 billion, Nasdaq said in an announcement on Thursday, September 10.
The investment deepens a partnership the two companies began in March 2026, when they said they would build an equities transformation gateway linking regulated markets with blockchain networks. Earlier this year, Nasdaq announced plans to develop Nasdaq Equity Tokens (NETs), tokenized versions of Nasdaq-listed stocks, and to connect them with Payward’s xStocks service, which issues blockchain versions of listed shares. Kraken had processed more than $25 billion in trades through xStocks by March, per the company.
Bloomberg reported the $21 billion valuation, citing people familiar with the matter, and neither company has confirmed the figure. It marks a step up from the $20 billion valuation set in November 2025, when Jane Street, DRW Venture Capital and Citadel Securities backed Payward.
Under the expanded partnership, Payward will adopt Nasdaq’s market surveillance technology across its trading venues, covering crypto, equities, tokenized equities, futures and options, the companies said in a statement. Nasdaq said the investment supports its development of tokenized market infrastructure.
Arjun Sethi, Co-CEO of Payward, said in the announcement: “More than $2 trillion of stock trades run through the U.S. clearing system every day. Onchain settlement removes the wait. The next phase is planned to advance Nasdaq Equity Tokens onto rails that do not close, with shareholder rights intact.”
Nasdaq Equity Tokens are expected to launch in the second quarter of 2027, and would carry the same voting rights as regular Nasdaq-traded shares. Payward’s IPO, which it targets for that quarter at the earliest, follows a confidential SEC filing in November 2025 that has been delayed twice.
