Nasdaq, through its venture capital division Nasdaq Ventures, has injected 100 million dollars (86 million euros) into Payward, the company that owns the cryptocurrency platform Kraken, with the aim of strengthening the development of tokenized stocks and a new market oversight agreement.
By virtue of this operation, Kraken's parent company will incorporate Nasdaq's surveillance technology across its range of trading platforms, which includes cryptocurrencies, stocks, tokenized stocks, futures, and options.
The two companies will work together to strengthen the operational and commercial infrastructure that supports Nasdaq Equity Tokens (NETs), with the expectation of launching this framework in the second quarter of 2027.
Both companies had already advanced earlier this year their plans to develop NETs and presented a complementary framework aimed at linking them with Payward's xStocks ecosystem.
The collaboration will be led by Digital Liquidity Networks (DLN), the firm's market division, specialized in designing a continuously active market infrastructure that allows capital, assets, and liquidity to move more swiftly and efficiently on a global scale.
In this operation, Wells Fargo has acted as the exclusive advisor to Nasdaq in capital markets matters.