Nasdaq (NASDAQ: NDAQ) announced an agreement through its investment arm, Nasdaq Ventures, to invest $100 million in Payward, the parent company of cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, along with a new market surveillance agreement and continued development of the Nasdaq Equity Token (NET) framework.

The two companies plan to launch Nasdaq Equity Tokens in the second quarter of 2027. The tokens are designed to allow tokenized equities to trade across markets while preserving shareholder rights and regulatory protections. The collaboration is being led within Nasdaq by its Digital Liquidity Networks (DLN) division.

"Expanding our relationship with Payward reflects our conviction that the company can play an important role in building the infrastructure that supports this evolution," said Tal Cohen, President of Nasdaq.

As part of the agreement, Payward will adopt Nasdaq's market surveillance technology across its trading venues, which include crypto, equities, tokenized equities, futures, and options.

Arjun Sethi, Co-CEO of Payward, noted that more than $2 trillion of stock trades run through the U.S. clearing system daily, with buys and sells netting down by approximately 98%, while the clearinghouse holds $10 billion to $20 billion in collateral during the settlement wait period. "Onchain settlement removes the wait," he said.

The NET framework was first announced earlier in 2026 and was designed to connect tokenized equities with Payward's xStocks ecosystem. The next phase will focus on global distribution, trading, and post-trade capabilities.

Wells Fargo served as Nasdaq's exclusive capital markets advisor on the transaction.