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Nasdaq Bets $100 Million on Payward as Tokenized Equities Move Toward 2027
Expanded partnership pairs Nasdaq Equity Tokens with Payward’s multi-asset infrastructure
TL;DR
- Nasdaq Ventures agreed to invest $100 million in Kraken parent Payward as the companies expand work on tokenized equities and market infrastructure.
- Nasdaq Equity Tokens are expected to launch in the second quarter of 2027, while Payward will adopt Nasdaq market-surveillance technology across multiple trading venues.
- The investment values Payward at $21 billion, while the partnership also targets blockchain-based settlement and shareholder rights for tokenized equities.
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Nasdaq said on September 10, 2026, that its venture-capital arm had agreed to invest in Payward, the parent company of Kraken, as the two companies deepen a partnership focused on tokenized equities, market infrastructure and surveillance technology. The agreement expands earlier work on Nasdaq Equity Tokens, or NETs, and gives the project a defined launch window while tying Nasdaq more closely to Payward’s broader move into traditional financial products.
The investment values Payward at $21 billion, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The financing is paired with an expanded technical relationship in which Nasdaq and Payward plan to build infrastructure for distributing and trading tokenized stocks, described as digital representations of publicly traded securities, other assets or forms of value issued on blockchain networks.
Nasdaq and Payward expect NETs to launch in the second quarter of 2027. Nasdaq had previously said its equity-token design and related distributed-ledger services would begin becoming operational during the first half of that year, while the newer timetable gives the joint project a more specific target.
Payward will also adopt Nasdaq’s market-surveillance technology across trading venues covering crypto, equities, tokenized equities, futures and options. The deployment comes as Kraken expands beyond cryptocurrencies into stocks, derivatives and other traditional financial products as part of an effort to build a broader multi-asset trading platform.
Nasdaq and Payward Build on Earlier Tokenization Work
Nasdaq and Payward began their partnership in March 2026, when the companies said they would build an equities transformation gateway connecting regulated markets with blockchain networks. Nasdaq also announced plans earlier that year to develop the NET framework and connect it with Payward’s xStocks ecosystem.
The expanded relationship now brings together several parts of that strategy: Nasdaq Equity Tokens as the tokenized-equity framework, Payward and xStocks as part of the onchain ecosystem, Nasdaq’s surveillance technology across trading venues, and infrastructure intended to connect blockchain networks with regulated securities markets.
Arjun Sethi, Co-CEO of Payward, pointed to the scale of existing clearing activity as part of the case for onchain settlement. “More than $2 trillion of stock trades run through the U.S. clearing system every day,” Sethi said. “Onchain settlement removes the wait. The next phase is planned to advance Nasdaq Equity Tokens onto rails that do not close, with shareholder rights intact.”
That distinction is central to the planned product. Tokenized assets broadly do not necessarily give holders outright ownership of the underlying assets, but Payward’s description of NETs says the planned structure is intended to preserve shareholder rights while using continuously available blockchain infrastructure.
Nasdaq President Tal Cohen framed the partnership around improving how capital moves through financial markets. “The next era of market evolution will be defined by how efficiently and seamlessly capital and assets move across the financial system with durable liquidity,” Cohen said.
“Expanding our relationship with Payward reflects our conviction that the company can play an important role in building the infrastructure that supports this evolution. This partnership advances our work on Nasdaq Equity Tokens and helps build a more connected financial system while preserving the trust, transparency and integrity that underpin capital formation,” Cohen said.
The companies’ broader thesis is that blockchain-based infrastructure could eventually support faster trading and settlement and allow markets to operate around the clock. Those potential benefits are being developed alongside conventional market-surveillance systems and a stated goal of maintaining shareholder rights in the tokenized-equity structure.
Tokenized Stocks Face a Broader Rights Debate
The partnership comes as tokenized stocks face an active debate over what investors actually own when they hold blockchain-based products tied to public shares. A dispute between Robinhood and AMC highlighted that distinction after Robinhood offered tokenized versions of AMC shares without AMC’s involvement.
AMC said the structure created a synthetic market that gave investors economic exposure without actual shareholder rights. Robinhood defended its position on September 9, 2026, saying financial firms were free to create and offer products that reference publicly traded stocks.
The dispute illustrates the difference between tokenized products that track the economics of an equity and structures intended to carry conventional shareholder rights. Payward’s stated plan for NETs places that distinction directly into the project’s design by pairing continuously available blockchain rails with shareholder rights.
Nasdaq’s investment also financially aligns the exchange operator with Payward as the companies develop the new infrastructure. The partnership combines Nasdaq’s token framework and market-surveillance systems with Payward’s trading ecosystem as both firms work toward a model in which tokenized equities can operate alongside traditional securities-market infrastructure.
This article has been refined and enhanced by ChatGPT.
