BNY and Kraken Parent Payward Eye Global Financial Infrastructure Partnership

BNY Mellon and Kraken's parent company, Payward, are in talks about a potential partnership that would expand their digital assets and financial market infrastructure services, according to a report by CoinDesk on October 2nd. The agreement could encompass various offerings from Payward's B2B platform, including crypto products, custody, wealth management, trading, payments, and infrastructure services, for banks, exchanges, and asset managers.

However, the report specifies that these talks are still ongoing, and there is no guarantee they will culminate in a formal agreement. Both BNY Mellon and Payward have not made any comments regarding the matter, as per the report.

This potential collaboration echoes the recent partnership between Nasdaq and Payward. Nasdaq's investment of $100 million in Payward, announced in September, is part of a broader expansion of their collaboration. Together, they are working on advancing the Nasdaq Equity Token (NET) framework and have adopted a new market surveillance agreement.

The NET framework is set to launch tokenized equities in the second quarter of 2027, aiming to create a foundation for the movement of tokenized equities across different market environments.

CoinDesk previously reported in September that Payward is heavily investing in its future as a financial infrastructure provider, having spent billions on acquisitions to expand its reach in futures and derivatives and tokenized stocks. The company is also acquiring additional banking capabilities in the U.S. and Europe, all aimed at transforming Payward into a unified financial platform for trading, banking, asset management, and other services.

Meanwhile, BNY Mellon has been exploring the potential of blockchain technology within the banking system. During its second quarter earnings call in July, the bank's CEO, Robin Vince, highlighted how payments, liquidity, collateral, digital assets, and securities markets are becoming increasingly interconnected. This interconnectivity, according to Vince, creates demand for infrastructure that operates with increased speed, certainty, and resilience. BNY Mellon believes that it is well-positioned to lead in this area over the next decade.