Nasdaq announced, on 10 September, a simple agreement. Nasdaq Ventures, the New York venue’s investment arm, is putting $100 million into Payward. Payward is the parent of Kraken. The exchange is not raising in its own name. Its holding company is.

Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter, puts the valuation at $21 billion. That figure does not appear in the Nasdaq release. We hold it from Bloomberg, nothing more.

What the money is for

Nasdaq says it wants to advance Nasdaq Equity Tokens, or NETs: tokenized stocks. Targeted launch in the second quarter of 2027, wired into Payward’s xStocks ecosystem. Payward also takes Nasdaq market surveillance across its crypto, equity, tokenized-equity, futures and options venues. Reuters notes the two houses have worked together since March. An agreement to invest is not, by itself, proof the funds are already in.

The next phase of the collaboration is planned to advance Nasdaq Equity Tokens onto rails that do not close, with shareholder rights intact.— Arjun Sethi, Payward co-CEO, 10 September 2026

What this is not

NETs are not listed this morning. This is not an IPO. Not a Kraken token. Tal Cohen, Nasdaq’s president, speaks of infrastructure and liquidity. Sethi describes US clearing: more than $2 trillion of stock trades a day, netting of about 98%, and $10 to $20 billion of collateral while it waits to settle. Cutting the wait from two days to one, in 2024, released $3 billion, he says. On-chain settlement, in his words, removes that wait. CoinDesk adds that Kraken is expected to distribute tokenized Nasdaq stocks, with voting rights aligned to the share. That is reporting, not a prospectus.

What 10 September holds

  • Held. A Nasdaq Ventures agreement of $100m into Payward. Kraken is the subsidiary. NETs are targeted for Q2 2027. xStocks and Nasdaq surveillance are in the text. The $21bn comes from Bloomberg.
  • Not held. That the money is already wired. That $21bn is a Nasdaq figure. That NETs list today. An IPO, a Kraken token, advice to buy or sell.

Sources: Nasdaq IR, Bloomberg, Reuters, CoinDesk. Nothing here is investment advice.