Nasdaq has announced a partnership with crypto exchange Kraken to develop a system for issuing and trading tokenized versions of publicly listed stocks and ETFs – a move that would allow investors to hold blockchain-based shares with the same rights as traditional stockholders, including dividends and proxy voting.
The platform is expected to launch in early 2027, pending SEC approval.
What’s Actually Being Built
Through its parent company Payward, Kraken will serve as the primary settlement layer for Nasdaq equity token transactions and act as the distribution partner for tokenized shares to customers outside the United States, with Europe as the primary target market. US investors are excluded under the current plan.
The infrastructure powering the partnership is xStocks, Kraken’s tokenized equities framework, which has already processed over $25 billion in transaction volume and counts more than 85,000 unique holders since launching less than a year ago.
How It Works
The initiative builds on a proposal Nasdaq submitted to the SEC in September 2025, seeking approval to allow tokenized versions of its listed stocks and ETFs to trade alongside traditional shares. Under that proposal, both versions would settle through the Depository Trust, keeping them interchangeable.
Nasdaq also separately announced a partnership with Boerse Stuttgart Group’s tokenized settlement platform Seturion to connect its European trading venues to tokenized securities infrastructure.
The Bigger Picture
The Nasdaq-Kraken deal is the third major exchange partnership in tokenized equities in the past week alone.
Last week, ICE – the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange – made a strategic investment in OKX at a $25 billion valuation, signing a deal to bring tokenized stocks and crypto futures to the platform. Coinbase also launched regulated crypto futures across 26 European countries for the first time.
Kraken is also targeting a public listing in 2026. A settlement-layer mandate from Nasdaq significantly strengthens that story ahead of its IPO, positioning the exchange as core financial infrastructure rather than a crypto-only platform.
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FAQs
They are building a system to issue and trade tokenized versions of publicly listed stocks and ETFs, pending SEC approval, with an expected launch in early 2027.
The platform is expected to launch in early 2027, but only if the U.S. SEC approves the proposal allowing tokenized versions of Nasdaq-listed stocks and ETFs.
Nasdaq is using Kraken’s xStocks infrastructure to expand blockchain-based trading globally, improving settlement speed and access for investors outside the U.S.
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