Nasdaq is putting $100 million into Payward, Kraken’s parent company, in an investment that values the crypto firm at $21 billion, Bloomberg reported Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.
The deal, made through Nasdaq’s venture arm, builds on a partnership announced in March as Nasdaq expands its efforts to develop infrastructure for tokenized equities.
As part of that partnership, Kraken will offer Nasdaq’s tokenized stocks on its platform, allowing customers to hold digital versions of Nasdaq-listed shares while retaining the same voting rights as investors who own conventional equities traded on Nasdaq.
The partnership also includes work on a gateway connecting regulated and blockchain-based markets for tokenized equities. Nasdaq plans to debut its own token in the second quarter of next year, while the NYSE is separately developing blockchain infrastructure for 24/7 trading of tokenized stocks and ETFs.
This is a developing story.
