Traditional exchanges race to seize crypto entry points: Nasdaq bets on Kraken, ICE partners with OKX.

Nasdaq announced today that it is investing $100 million in Payward, the parent company of Kraken, via its investment arm, valuing Payward at $21 billion upon deal completion. Meanwhile, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) and OKX announced in June a 50:50 joint venture, which plans to operate as a U.S.-registered broker-dealer and futures commission merchant (FCM) after securing regulatory approval, enabling OKX users access to ICE’s futures markets and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE)’s tokenized stock market. Both deals point to a shared trend: traditional exchanges are no longer content with merely researching blockchain applications, but are instead directly acquiring access points, licenses, and on-chain settlement capabilities. Deutsche Börse acquired a roughly 1.5% stake in Payward for $200 million in April; the London Stock Exchange is also advancing tokenization of xStocks for London-listed shares with Payward. Nasdaq, NYSE, Deutsche Börse, and London Stock Exchange are nearly simultaneously positioning crypto platforms as next-generation market pipelines, rather than competitors. Payward closed an $800 million funding round in November 2025 at a $20 billion valuation, and had secretly filed an S-1 with the SEC, though its IPO has been delayed to as early as Q2 2027. Nasdaq’s latest stake purchase at a $21 billion valuation marks a new high for Payward’s valuation over the past year, and signals that traditional exchanges are willing to pay a premium for tokenization access. Regulatory approval remains a key hurdle: the ICE-OKX joint venture requires U.S. broker-dealer and FCM licenses, while Nasdaq’s equity tokenization plan must align with existing securities frameworks. But the direction is clear: Wall Street does not want to sit on the sidelines of crypto, but rather integrate crypto into its own trading sessions, clearing networks, and retail access points.