Nasdaq Ventures Backs Kraken Parent Payward With $100M for Tokenized Equities

Nasdaq Ventures has agreed to invest $100 million in Payward, the parent organization of digital asset exchange Kraken, expanding an alliance aimed at institutionalizing tokenized securities ¹. The deal deepens technical collaboration around the Nasdaq Equity Token (NET) framework and introduces an enterprise surveillance partnership across Payward trading venues ¹.

The initiative is spearheaded within the exchange operator by Digital Liquidity Networks, a specialized unit building round-the-clock market architecture ¹. Under the agreement, Nasdaq and Payward are establishing the technical, operational, and clearing infrastructure required to debut NETs in the second quarter of 2027 ¹. The framework connects Nasdaq systems directly with Payward's xStocks platform via an equities transformation gateway, designed to transfer assets between permissioned traditional venues and decentralized networks while recording token transfers directly into official corporate share registries ^{1 2}.

Surveillance and Market Plumbing

Alongside the capital commitment, Payward will deploy Nasdaq's proprietary market surveillance technology across its full trading suite, spanning spot crypto, traditional equities, tokenized assets, futures, and options ¹. Wells Fargo acted as exclusive capital markets advisor to Nasdaq on the deal ¹.

The project addresses capital inefficiencies in conventional clearing pipelines. Payward Co-CEO Arjun Sethi stated that traditional U.S. clearing operations process over $2 trillion in daily equity volume, requiring clearinghouses to lock up between $10 billion and $20 billion in collateral during settlement delays ¹. Continuous blockchain settlement aims to eliminate that friction while preserving shareholder rights, proxy voting mechanics, and existing corporate governance standards ^{1 2}.

The joint roadmap builds upon Nasdaq's September 2025 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which proposed trading tokenized equities with Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) settlement, in accordance with the regulator's 2026 guidance classifying tokenized shares identically to conventional equities ².