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The deal expands a partnership to build Nasdaq Equity Tokens, with a planned launch in the second quarter of 2027
Nasdaq $NDAQ's venture capital arm agreed to invest $100 million in Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, to build infrastructure for tokenized equities, the company said Thursday.
The investment, made through Nasdaq Ventures, expands an existing collaboration between the two companies on Nasdaq Equity Tokens, or NETs — blockchain-based representations of publicly traded stocks. The companies expect to launch NETs in the second quarter of 2027, Nasdaq said.
Through the arrangement, Kraken's platform will serve as a distribution channel for tokenized versions of Nasdaq-listed stocks, and those tokens will confer shareholder voting rights equivalent to those attached to shares on Nasdaq's traditional exchange, according to CoinDesk. The investment values Payward at $21 billion, according to CNBC.
