Nasdaq has invested $100M in Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, deepening a partnership aimed at putting US equities on blockchain rails.
The two firms laid the groundwork in March, when they outlined a plan for so-called Nasdaq Equity Tokens and a companion framework linking them to Payward’s xStocks system. The design is meant to let shares be tokenised and issued in different market settings without weakening investor protections.
Tokenised equities represent shares as smart contracts on a distributed ledger. Programmable code can then automate dividends, compliance checks and voting, rather than relying on paper certificates and clearing intermediaries.
Nasdaq’s Digital Liquidity Networks division will lead the work, focused on always-on market infrastructure. Payward will also adopt Nasdaq’s audit technology across its trading venues, spanning crypto, equities, tokenised equities, futures and options.
Payward co-chief executive Arjun Sethi framed the opportunity in settlement terms, noting that more than $2T of US stock trades clear daily and that cutting settlement from two days to one in 2024 released $3B. On-chain settlement, he argued, removes the wait entirely.
Nasdaq, the New York Stock Exchange and the Depository Trust Company have been moving toward ledger-based share trading without creating a parallel crypto market. The goal is plumbing rather than replacement: the same tickers, rights and venues, settled more efficiently.
