Nasdaq has injected $100 million into Payward, Kraken’s parent company, announced Thursday, marking a significant Wall Street push into crypto infrastructure. The investment from Nasdaq’s venture arm targets development of tokenized market infrastructure and includes a new market surveillance agreement between the firms.
The deal expands a March partnership that will see Kraken distribute Nasdaq’s tokenized stocks directly on its platform. Nasdaq President Tal Cohen stated the investment reflects conviction that Payward can help build infrastructure for seamless capital movement across financial systems.
This move aligns with broader industry efforts toward 24/7 trading through tokenization. The New York Stock Exchange is similarly developing a blockchain platform for round-the-clock trading of tokenized equities and ETFs. However, operational challenges persist, particularly around guaranteed delivery of underlying assets. Recent failures by platforms including Binance and Bybit to fulfill tokenized SpaceX IPO allocations after failing to secure actual shares highlight these limitations.
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FXnCO Insight
** Traditional exchanges are aggressively positioning in crypto infrastructure ahead of tokenized securities rollout, creating potential regulatory arbitrage opportunities but with unresolved settlement risk.
Source: Finance Magnates