Key Takeaways
- Nasdaq and cryptocurrency platform Kraken are collaborating to create and distribute blockchain-based versions of publicly traded company shares worldwide.
- Investors holding tokenized shares will maintain complete governance privileges, encompassing voting rights and dividend distributions.
- The initiative focuses on European and global markets through Kraken’s infrastructure, with deployment scheduled for early 2027.
- This collaboration follows Nasdaq’s September 2025 SEC filing requesting authorization for tokenized securities to trade concurrently with conventional shares.
- Additionally, Nasdaq formed a strategic alliance with Boerse Stuttgart Group’s Seturion system to facilitate tokenized asset settlement across Europe.
Nasdaq has revealed a strategic collaboration with Payward, Kraken’s parent organization, to construct infrastructure supporting the trading of blockchain-based versions of publicly traded equities. The system is scheduled for deployment in early 2027, with initial emphasis on territories beyond U.S. borders.
According to the arrangement, Kraken will serve as the distribution channel. The platform will provide one-to-one blockchain representations of public company equities to clientele across European and additional international jurisdictions.
Tokenized equities represent digital manifestations of authentic equity instruments documented on blockchain infrastructure. These assets replicate both the valuation and ownership privileges associated with the original security.
Nasdaq confirms that blockchain token owners will preserve complete corporate governance entitlements. This encompasses participation in shareholder voting processes and dividend receipt, mirroring the experience of traditional equity holders.
The exchange emphasizes that streamlining corporate procedures represents a fundamental objective of this initiative. Functions including dividend distributions and shareholder voting would experience partial automation via blockchain infrastructure.
Nasdaq will leverage Payward’s xStocks tokenization framework for this venture. This technology enables participants to transfer securities from conventional institutional trading systems onto distributed ledger platforms.
This initiative has regulatory groundwork already in place. Nasdaq filed documentation with the SEC during September 2025, requesting authorization to permit blockchain-based representations of its listed equities and ETFs to trade concurrently with traditional instruments on its platform.
In that previous submission, both blockchain-based and conventional variants of identical securities would clear through the Depository Trust, maintaining their fungibility.
Growing Competition in Tokenized Securities
Nasdaq isn’t alone in this emerging sector. Robinhood, Gemini, and Kraken have previously introduced tokenized equity products in European territories. Coinbase and emerging firm Dinari are actively pursuing U.S. regulatory clearance for comparable offerings.
Just last week, ICE — which owns the NYSE — announced a strategic capital injection into OKX, establishing the exchange’s valuation at $25 billion. That agreement encompassed intentions to introduce innovative tokenized equity and cryptocurrency derivatives instruments.
During January, ICE similarly announced its pursuit of regulatory authorization for a blockchain-powered system enabling round-the-clock trading and on-chain clearing of tokenized assets.
Nasdaq’s strategic move follows the enactment of the GENIUS Act, legislation that has accelerated institutional embrace of digital asset infrastructure.
Nasdaq’s Comprehensive Tokenization Strategy
In conjunction with the Kraken collaboration, Nasdaq disclosed an additional partnership with Boerse Stuttgart Group’s blockchain settlement system, Seturion. This alliance links Nasdaq’s European trading platforms to infrastructure designed specifically for tokenized asset trading and settlement operations.
Tal Cohen, president of Nasdaq, said: “Tokenization has the potential to unlock the benefits of an always-on financial ecosystem — enhancing how investors access markets, how issuers engage with shareholders.”
The Kraken collaboration represents Nasdaq’s most significant initiative to date in delivering tokenized equity instruments to both retail and institutional market participants internationally.
