Nasdaq has invested $100 million U.S. in Payward, the parent company of cryptocurrency exchange Kraken. This investment is part of a new funding round that valued Payward at $21 billion U.S., exceeding the $20 billion U.S. valuation the company had been seeking.
The deal includes a provision for Kraken to distribute Nasdaq's tokenized stocks on its own platform. Tokenized stocks are digital representations of traditional shares that allow investors to buy and own equity in a digital format. Under this arrangement, investors would retain the same voting rights as those who hold traditional stocks trading on the Nasdaq exchange.
Nasdaq announced plans in March of this year to collaborate with Kraken on the infrastructure required to place stocks on blockchain networks and launch these tokenized equities. The investment coincides with Nasdaq's broader efforts to develop tokenized market infrastructure and prepare for around-the-clock trading.
The move places Nasdaq in a similar position to the New York Stock Exchange, which is building its own platform for 24-7 trading of digital stocks. While Nasdaq is known for listing technology stocks, this investment marks a significant step into blockchain-based financial services.
Kraken remains a privately held company, though it is expected to go public within the next year. Nasdaq stock was trading at $94.22 U.S. per share and was down 0.46% over the past year at the time of the report.