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FollowingNasdaq invests US$100 million in Payward, the parent company of cryptocurrency exchange Kraken.
According to Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter, Nasdaq Inc. It is investing $100 million in Payward, the parent company of its cryptocurrency exchange Kraken. The transaction values Payward to US$21 billion and marks an important step in the process of integrating traditional capital markets with crypto-native infrastructure.
Strategic bet on crypto market infrastructure
This investment is much more than a simple financial transaction. The move comes as Nasdaq continues to build infrastructure to support tokenized stock trading. The two companies have been working together to that end for the past few months.
Back in March 2026, Payward and Nasdaq launched a tokenization-focused partnership centered on developing an "equity conversion gateway" designed to connect tokenized equity capital markets to decentralized blockchain networks. The partnership aims to combine Nasdaq's regulated market infrastructure with Kraken's xStocks framework to enable tokenized stocks to flow freely between permissioned institutional markets and permissionless decentralized finance (DeFi) spaces.
Nasdaq's equity token design is expected to be operational in the first half of 2027, and Payward will serve as the primary settlement level for these transactions in eligible jurisdictions.
Payward's influence is growing on the eve of IPO
During critical times, Nasdaq's direct investment added institutional credibility to Payward. In recent months, the company has accelerated its acquisition pace, acquiring derivatives exchange Bitnomial and stablecoin company Reap. Among them, Payward's acquisition of NinjaTrader for US$1.5 billion in 2025 has the largest transaction, which significantly expands Kraken's presence in the U.S. derivatives market and futures trading infrastructure.
In addition, on September 1, Payward agreed to tokenize 100 of the largest London-listed companies into xStocks. These tokens are endorsed one-on-one by real shares and cover investors in more than 110 countries around the world. Since June 2025, xStocks 'trading volume has reached US$40 billion, with more than 200,000 holders.
In terms of initial public offerings (IPOs), Payward had previously secretly submitted a draft S-1 registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in November 2025, the first step towards a potential listing. Although the company later suspended its IPO plans due to unfavorable market conditions, sources said the company still intends to move forward with the listing process once conditions improve. Nasdaq's direct investment is expected to reactivate this timetable by introducing regulation and market credibility of exchange operators.
