Kraken's Parent Company Secures $100M Investment from Nasdaq at $21B Valuation: Sources
Stock exchange giant Nasdaq has poured $100 million into Payward, the entity behind Kraken, as the company accelerates its strategy for tokenized equities with 24-hour market access.
The electronic stock exchange Nasdaq has committed $100 million to Payward, which serves as the parent entity of digital asset exchange Kraken, marking a significant step in the New York-based bourse's strategic push into the tokenized asset sector.
Through its venture capital division, Nasdaq deployed $100 million into Payward, according to an announcement made by the exchange operator on Thursday. Under the terms of this agreement, Kraken will make available tokenized representations of stocks listed on the Nasdaq exchange through its proprietary platform. This investment represents an expansion of the strategic partnership between Nasdaq and Payward that was initially revealed in March.
Sources with knowledge of the transaction disclosed to Bloomberg on Thursday that the investment placed a valuation of $21 billion on Payward, the parent company of Kraken. Cointelegraph reached out to Nasdaq seeking additional commentary on this development but had not received a response by the time of publication.
This development follows by one month Nasdaq's disclosure of its intentions to acquire Level Markets, which forms part of its broader initiative to establish "always-on" market infrastructure. A year prior, Nasdaq submitted a proposal focused on tokenization to the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
In recent weeks, Kraken forged a partnership with the London Stock Exchange, enabling the launch of round-the-clock trading access for tokenized stocks that will track the performance of prominent UK equity instruments, with operations scheduled to commence in 2027.
Back in April, Payward received a $200 million investment from Deutsche Börse, the German exchange operator, as the company pursues its objectives to provide access to an expanded range of securities built on blockchain technology and tokenized investment vehicles.
Based on information gathered by RWA.xyz, the total distributed value of tokenized equities currently exceeds $2.9 billion, reflecting an increase of 7.4% during the previous month.