Crypto
Nasdaq Just Bet 100 Million Dollars on Tokenized Stocks That Trade Around the Clock
Nasdaq is putting its money where the blockchain is. On September 10, the exchange operator said 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.
The target is Nasdaq Equity Tokens, planned for launch in the second quarter of 2027 on Payward's xStocks platform. The design lets tokenized assets trade and settle outside conventional market hours while keeping regulatory compliance and market safeguards. Arjun Sethi of Payward said the next phase advances the tokens onto rails that stay open, with shareholder rights intact.
The investment builds on a partnership announced in March, and on a broader 2026 shift. Intercontinental Exchange invested in OKX to bring NYSE listed tokenized stocks to that platform in the second quarter of 2026. Established exchange operators are developing tokenized securities infrastructure as crypto native platforms expand into stocks, derivatives, and perpetual futures.
Crucially, these carry real economic rights. The Nasdaq Equity Tokens are designed as issuer sponsored digital representations of Nasdaq listed shares, retaining governance rights and the regulatory framework of traditional shares. Tokenization here means new rails carrying the same assets, built for markets that stay open.
The September investment deepens a partnership first announced in March 2026, when Nasdaq and Payward unveiled an equities transformation gateway linking regulated, permissioned markets with blockchain networks through the xStocks framework. Payward serves as the primary settlement layer in eligible jurisdictions, with customer onboarding compliance built in.
The xStocks ecosystem brings momentum of its own. Since launching less than a year ago, xStocks have surpassed 25 billion dollars in total transaction volume, with more than 4 billion settled onchain and over 85,000 unique holders across supported networks. Kraken acquired xStocks issuer Backed in December 2024, and the framework preserves issuer control, existing regulatory rules, and the underlying rights of company shares.
This is the incumbent choosing the new rails. Nasdaq is putting its venture capital and its brand into tokens that carry real shareholder rights, building with the technology rather than watching from the sidelines. The 9:30 to 4:00 trading day is a relic of floor trading. Money already moves at internet speed everywhere else.
For everyday investors, the horizon is a market that trades when you are awake, wherever you are, with the protections that make regulated exchanges trustworthy. Nasdaq just moved that future a lot closer.
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