Nasdaq is investing $100 million in Payward, the parent company of Kraken, in a transaction that values the private financial infrastructure company at $21 billion. The investment is being made through Nasdaq’s venture arm and expands a partnership focused on moving regulated equities onto blockchain-based settlement infrastructure.

The $21 billion valuation is above the $20 billion equity value used in several transactions earlier this year. It also comes as Kraken prepares for a potential public listing. The exchange confidentially filed for an initial public offering after expanding beyond spot crypto trading into equities, derivatives, payments and tokenized assets.

Nasdaq and Payward Expand Tokenized-Equity Partnership

Nasdaq and Payward first announced their tokenization partnership in March. The companies are developing an Equities Transformation Gateway that will connect Nasdaq’s regulated securities infrastructure with Payward’s xStocks framework and supported permissionless blockchain networks. Payward announced the partnership in its official press release.

Under the original agreement, xStocks provides the permissionless infrastructure layer, while Payward manages know-your-customer and anti-money-laundering onboarding and initial settlement for eligible Nasdaq Equity Token transactions. The structure is intended to allow tokenized equities to move between regulated markets and compatible on-chain environments while retaining shareholder rights and existing securities protections.

The latest timetable places the launch of Nasdaq Equity Tokens in the second quarter of 2027. Nasdaq had previously targeted the first quarter of 2027, making the revised schedule a change from the timeline disclosed when the partnership was announced in March. The second-quarter 2027 launch is now the next stated milestone for the Nasdaq-Payward project.

Payward Valuation Moves Above $20 Billion

Nasdaq’s investment adds another major exchange operator to Payward’s shareholder register. Deutsche Börse acquired a $200 million stake in April through a secondary transaction representing 1.5% of Payward on a fully diluted basis, according to its press release.

That transaction implied a substantially lower valuation than Nasdaq’s latest investment. Payward later used a $20 billion equity valuation in its Bitnomial and Reap transactions, while the new Nasdaq deal raises the reference point to $21 billion.

Payward’s business has also expanded. The company generated $508 million in adjusted revenue during the second quarter, a 17% year-over-year increase, and reported 6.6 million funded accounts and $40 billion in assets on its platforms. Payward’s Q2 2026 financial highlights provide the company’s reported figures.

The Nasdaq investment comes less than two weeks after Payward added another traditional-market partner through its London Stock Exchange deal. That agreement will bring the 100 largest London-listed companies into the xStocks framework for eligible international investors.