Nasdaq Invests $100 Million in Kraken Parent Payward, Valuation Hits $21 Billion

Nasdaq has invested $100 million in Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken. The deal pushed Payward's valuation to $21 billion and gives Kraken users access to tokenized versions of stocks that trade on Nasdaq.

What exactly did the two sides agree on?

The investment was announced on Thursday, September 10, 2026. Nasdaq's venture arm made the deal, and under its terms Kraken will be able to offer clients tokenized shares of companies listed on the US exchange. The move builds on a partnership Nasdaq and Payward first announced in March.

Kraken has operated since 2011 and remains one of the oldest crypto exchanges in the world, serving clients across dozens of countries. Payward, the parent structure, oversees the exchange along with the company's other financial products. Kraken already offers clients derivatives and staking, so tokenized stocks will become another item on that list.

According to Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter, the investment valued Payward at $21 billion. Nasdaq has not confirmed that figure.

How much has Payward's valuation grown in half a year?

Back in April 2026, German exchange operator Deutsche Börse put $200 million into Payward. That deal implied a valuation of $13.3 billion. Five months later, the figure climbed to $21 billion, a jump of almost 58%.

A private company's valuation, unlike a listed stock price, is set anew in each funding round. It depends on how much a specific investor is willing to pay for a stake at a given moment, which is why such jumps can be sharp and uneven.

Companies with a fast-rising private valuation often turn into IPO candidates. Kraken has been the subject of listing rumors for years, though the company has never named an official date.

A valuation jump like this over such a short period is rare even among crypto companies. It signals that traditional finance investors are willing to pay a premium for access to infrastructure that combines stocks and digital assets in one place.

Why does Nasdaq want tokenized stocks?

Tokenized stocks are digital versions of real securities issued on a blockchain. A token holder gets the same claim on the asset's returns as a regular shareholder, but can trade around the clock, without a broker or traditional clearing.

A month earlier, Nasdaq revealed plans to acquire Level Markets to build out "always-on" markets where trading never pauses for nights or weekends. Nasdaq filed a tokenization proposal with the US Securities and Exchange Commission a year ago.

• Round-the-clock trading: tokenized stocks can be bought and sold without being tied to a regular exchange session schedule.
• Settlement on a blockchain happens faster than traditional clearing, which can take several days.
• A ready-made audience: exchanges like Kraken bring in users who previously only traded Bitcoin or Ethereum.
• The Payward partnership gives Nasdaq a client base it does not have to build from scratch.
• Crypto exchanges gain legal access to a product previously offered mostly by traditional brokers.

What does this mean for the crypto exchange market?

Kraken is not the only crypto platform moving closer to traditional exchanges. Earlier this month, the company struck a deal with the London Stock Exchange to launch round-the-clock trading of tokenized UK stocks. The 24/5 trading window starts in 2027.

The total tokenized stock market now exceeds $2.9 billion and grew 7.4% over the past month, according to data platform RWA.xyz. That figure is still small next to the traditional stock market, but the pace of growth shows that major players, including Nasdaq, Deutsche Börse and the London Stock Exchange, are betting on this space at the same time.

Other centralized crypto exchanges are looking for ways to offer clients access to traditional assets too, so competition for tokenized products keeps building.

It fits a broader trend. Traditional financial institutions increasingly want direct access to crypto infrastructure, not just derivative products like exchange-traded funds.

For traders, that means more tools in one account. No need to open a separate brokerage account to get exposure to Nasdaq-listed stocks alongside crypto.

What comes next?

Nasdaq has not disclosed an exact timeline for launching tokenized stocks on Kraken. The next milestone will be the SEC's decision on the tokenization filing, which the regulator has had under review for a year. Previous tokenization filings in the US have taken several years to resolve, so a quick decision looks unlikely. If the SEC approves the filing, other major exchanges will likely follow Nasdaq and Kraken into stock tokenization.

If the Nasdaq-Payward deal proceeds as planned, Kraken will become one of the first crypto exchanges where traditional stocks and digital assets trade side by side on a single platform.