Nasdaq said on Sept. 10 that it is expanding its relationship with Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, through a $100 million investment from Nasdaq Ventures and a deeper push into tokenized equities. The agreement also introduces a market-surveillance arrangement, tying the exchange more closely to the infrastructure that could let regulated and on-chain markets interoperate.
The $100 million bet on tokenized equities
Nasdaq Ventures, the exchange’s strategic investment arm, is making the $100 million investment in Payward as part of its mandate to back technology and market infrastructure that support the long-term evolution of global capital markets. The companies are taking what Nasdaq describes as an issuer-centric approach grounded in strong governance, regulatory compliance and market integrity. Within Nasdaq, the collaboration is led by Digital Liquidity Networks, the markets unit focused on always-on infrastructure. The two companies will continue building the operational and commercial framework for Nasdaq Equity Tokens, or NETs, which Nasdaq expects to launch in the second quarter of 2027, according to the company’s announcement.
Surveillance and the NET roadmap
As part of the expanded relationship, Payward will adopt Nasdaq’s market-surveillance technology across its portfolio of trading venues, spanning crypto, equities, tokenized equities, futures and options. Nasdaq first outlined plans earlier this year to develop NETs and introduced a framework designed to connect them with Payward’s xStocks ecosystem. The exchange says the approach is meant to preserve the rights and protections intended for issuers and investors as tokenized equities move between different market environments.
Why exchanges are betting on blockchain rails
“The next era of market evolution will be defined by how efficiently and seamlessly capital and assets move across the financial system with durable liquidity,” said Tal Cohen, President of Nasdaq. Arjun Sethi, Co-CEO of Payward, said on-chain settlement removes the wait in a system where more than $2 trillion of stock trades run through U.S. clearing every day, with the clearing house holding $10 billion to $20 billion of collateral against trades that still take a day to settle. The investment echoes a broader exchange push into tokenized equities, including the London Stock Exchange’s partnership with Payward to launch UK tokenised equity structures. Wells Fargo served as Nasdaq’s exclusive capital markets advisor on the transaction.
