Payward valuation soars to $21B in $100M Nasdaq tokenization expansion 

Nasdaq has announced an investment of $100 million into Payward. The deal reportedly values the firm at $21 billion. 

Nasdaq is now the third major exchange operator this year to take a crypto-exchange stake.

How much did Nasdaq invest in Payward? 

Nasdaq will invest a total of $100 million from Nasdaq Ventures, its strategic investment arm, into Payward. Both companies already had a partnership agreement in March 2026, and this investment builds on that relationship. 

Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the arrangement, values the deal at $21 billion, although Nasdaq did not put a valuation on the deal in its statement confirming the $100 million commitment. 

Payward has also agreed to apply Nasdaq’s market surveillance technology across everything it trades, which includes crypto, equities, tokenized equities, futures, and options. 

In return, Kraken, which Payward owns, will become a distribution point for Nasdaq’s planned tokenized stocks, which are expected to launch in the second quarter of 2027 under the name Nasdaq Equity Tokens, or NETs.

Kraken’s distributed Nasdaq equities would carry voting rights identical to those of ordinary shares. Cryptopolitan noted that most tokenized equity today gives holders price exposure and little else, when the London Stock Exchange agreed on September 1 to bring its 100 largest listings onto Kraken’s xStocks framework.

Why are exchange operators investing in the crypto industry?

Intercontinental Exchange, the owner of the New York Stock Exchange, invested in OKX in March at a $25 billion valuation, claiming a board seat and agreeing to open NYSE tokenized equities to OKX’s 120 million accounts. Deutsche Börse followed in April, paying $200 million for about 1.5% of Payward.

Bloomberg calculated that the Deutsche Börse purchase implied a value of roughly $13.3 billion for Payward, well short of the $21 billion mark now attached to Nasdaq’s check. Meanwhile, Payward’s value has been listed at about $10.77 billion as of September 9.

Payward’s most recent primary round, disclosed in November 2025, raised $800 million at a $20 billion valuation and included $200 million from Citadel Securities. 

Payward’s second-quarter shareholder letter, published August 14, reported adjusted revenue of $508 million, up 17% year over year, but adjusted EBITDA of just $23 million, down 71% from about $80 million a year earlier. The platform’s total volume fell by 18% to $310 billion as spot crypto activity reduced. Despite this, funded accounts grew by 42% to 6.6 million.

Notably, Payward’s route to the public markets is currently stalled. It filed a confidential S-1 with the SEC in November 2025 and paused the listing in March. 

Now, the company is targeting a debut no earlier than the second quarter of 2027. Alongside the delay, the company also let go of about 150 workers. In the meantime, Payward has grown by acquisition, closing on the derivatives platform Bitnomial for up to $550 million.