Nasdaq Invests $100 Million to Bring 24/7 Stock Trading via Kraken

Nasdaq will invest $100 million in Payward, the parent company of cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, to build a trading infrastructure for tokenised equities. The project, branded as Nasdaq Equity Tokens, is slated for a 2027 launch. The initiative aims to remove the constraints of traditional market hours, allowing for the continuous trading and settlement of securities via blockchain. By integrating Nasdaq's exchange architecture with Kraken's digital asset expertise, the firms intend to create a platform where traditional stocks are converted into digital tokens. The move shifts tokenisation from experimental phases to a regulated market framework. For investors, the primary change is the potential for 24/7 liquidity and a reduction in settlement times, as the system will operate on a scalable blockchain network rather than legacy banking rails.