Nasdaq, the world’s second-largest stock exchange by market capitalization, is expanding its push into tokenized equities through a partnership with crypto exchange Kraken and its infrastructure affiliate Backed.
The exchange said Monday it plans to support equity tokenization in a way that preserves issuer control, as it looks to connect traditional market infrastructure with blockchain-based networks.
Nasdaq has partnered with Payward, Kraken’s parent company, and its subsidiary Backed, the issuer behind xStocks, to develop an equities transformation gateway.
“Tokenization has the potential to unlock the benefits of an always-on financial ecosystem — enhancing how investors access markets, how issuers engage with shareholders,” Nasdaq president Tal Cohen said.
The plan builds on Nasdaq’s tokenization proposal filed with US securities regulators in September 2025, as well as Kraken’s acquisition of the xStocks issuer Backed in December.
Nasdaq connects to tokenized equities via the xStocks ecosystem
Nasdaq said the partnership with Kraken aims to enable tokenized equities to move seamlessly between regulated markets and global onchain markets while preserving issuer rights, regulatory compliance and price integrity.
“By connecting Nasdaq’s market infrastructure with the xStocks ecosystem, the gateway is designed to create interoperability between financial systems and decentralized networks,” the company said in the announcement.
The exchange said it plans to work with additional issuers, transfer agents, regulators, infrastructure operators and other market participants as the framework develops. Participation in the program will remain voluntary.
Nasdaq expects this program to be operational and additional services to be available to issuers starting in the first half of 2027.
Related: Kraken wins Kansas City Fed approval for limited master account access
“We believe that public companies should always remain at the center of the equity market ecosystem. This issuer‑sponsored approach for tokenized equity securities is designed to empower public companies and enhance global accessibility to US equity markets,” Nasdaq president Cohen said.
Nasdaq’s tokenization push comes amid increasing market competition. Last week, Intercontinental Exchange invested in crypto exchange OKX to bring NYSE-listed tokenized stocks to the exchange in the second quarter of 2026.
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