Nasdaq invests $100 million in Kraken parent Payward at $21 billion valuation: Report

Nasdaq is putting $100 million into Payward, Kraken’s parent company, in an investment that values the crypto firm at $21 billion, Bloomberg reported Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter. The deal builds on a partnership announced in March as Nasdaq expands its efforts to develop infrastructure for tokenized equities. Kraken is expected to distribute Nasdaq’s tokenized stocks through its platform, giving customers access to Nasdaq-listed companies in tokenized form while retaining the voting rights associated with traditional shares. The companies declined to comment on the investment. The partnership also includes work on a gateway connecting regulated and blockchain-based markets for tokenized equities. Nasdaq plans to debut its own token in the second quarter of next year, while the NYSE is separately developing blockchain infrastructure for 24/7 trading of tokenized stocks and ETFs. This is a developing story. Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.