Crypto
Nasdaq Puts 100 Million Into Kraken Parent to Bring Stocks Onchain
Nasdaq is putting real money behind tokenized stocks. Its venture arm agreed to invest 100 million dollars in Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, deepening a partnership to build infrastructure for trading tokenized equities, Reuters reported Thursday.
The ambition is a market that stays open past the closing bell. The companies aim to let tokenized assets trade and settle outside conventional market hours while keeping regulatory compliance and market safeguards intact. They expect to launch Nasdaq Equity Tokens in the second quarter of 2027 on Payward's xStocks platform, advancing the tokens onto rails that stay open around the clock with shareholder rights intact, said Payward executive Arjun Sethi.
The investment builds on a partnership announced in March and follows SEC approval for certain stocks to be traded and settled in tokenized form. Established exchange operators are racing to capture growing investor interest in blockchain based assets, competing with crypto native platforms that keep expanding into stocks and derivatives, including perpetual futures.
This is Wall Street meeting crypto on crypto's home turf. For investors, the prize is a stock market that stays open around the clock. For crypto holders, it is another sign that tokenization keeps pulling the traditional financial world onto blockchain rails.
Sources
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