Nasdaq Launches Fairness Token Design With Kraken

Nasdaq, the world’s second-largest inventory alternate by market capitalization, is advancing tokenized fairness improvement in collaboration with US crypto alternate Kraken.

Nasdaq plans to assist fairness tokenization in a manner that preserves issuer management, the corporate introduced Monday.

Nasdaq has partnered with Payward, the dad or mum firm of Kraken, and its subsidiary Backed, the issuer behind xStocks, to develop an equities transformation gateway.

“Tokenization has the potential to unlock the advantages of an always-on monetary ecosystem — enhancing how traders entry markets, how issuers have interaction with shareholders,” Nasdaq president Tal Cohen stated.

The plan builds on Nasdaq’s tokenization proposal filed with US securities regulators in September 2025, in addition to Kraken’s acquisition of the xStocks issuer Backed in December.

Nasdaq connects to tokenized equities by way of the xStocks ecosystem

Nasdaq’s partnership with Kraken goals to allow tokenized equities to maneuver seamlessly between regulated markets and world on‑chain markets whereas preserving issuer rights, regulatory compliance and value integrity.

“By connecting Nasdaq’s market infrastructure with the xStocks ecosystem, the gateway is designed to create interoperability between monetary techniques and decentralized networks,” the announcement notes.

The inventory alternate plans to have interaction with extra issuers, switch brokers, regulators, trade infrastructure operators and market members because the token framework evolves, with participation remaining voluntary.

Nasdaq expects this program to be operational and extra providers to be out there to issuers beginning within the first half of 2027.

Associated: Kraken wins Kansas Metropolis Fed approval for restricted grasp account entry

“We imagine that public corporations ought to at all times stay on the heart of the fairness market ecosystem. This issuer‑sponsored strategy for tokenized fairness securities is designed to empower public corporations and improve world accessibility to US fairness markets,” Nasdaq president Cohen stated.

Nasdaq’s tokenization push comes amid growing market competitors. Final week, Intercontinental Change invested in crypto alternate OKX to deliver NYSE-listed tokenized shares to the alternate within the second quarter of 2026.

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