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Update April 14, 12:39 pm UTC: This article has been updated to include a comment from a Kraken spokesperson.
Deutsche Börse said Tuesday it will invest $200 million in Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, deepening a partnership between the two companies as the German exchange operator expands further into digital assets.
The <a href="https://www.deutsche-boerse.com/dbg-en/media/news-stories/press-releases/Deutsche-B-rse-Group-Acquires-a-Stake-in-Kraken-for-200-Million-5077740" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">investment</a>, which is subject to regulatory approval and is expected to close in the second quarter, will give Deutsche Börse a 1.5% fully diluted stake in Kraken through a secondary share purchase.
The investment is another sign of growing interest in the cryptocurrency industry from traditional finance (TradFi) institutions. Deutsche Börse said the collaboration is intended to produce new products across trading, custody, settlement, collateral management and tokenized assets.
The deal is part of the Frankfurt-headquartered stock exchange operator’s plans to offer access to a wider array of blockchain-based securities and tokenized investment products and <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/deutsche-boerse-kraken-partnership-bridge-tradfi-crypto" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">builds on its prior partnership with Kraken</a>.
A spokesperson for Kraken told Cointelegraph that the deal was based on a secondary transaction involving existing shares and that it builds towards the two companies’ goal to bring crypto and TradFi closer as a “single, cohesive infrastructure for institutional clients,” rather than parallel systems.
Related: <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/kraken-ipo-reignite-crypto-mid-stage-cycle" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Kraken IPO, M&amp;A deals to reignite crypto's 'mid-stage' cycle: fund manager</a>
Kraken said on Nov. 19, 2025, that it had <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/kraken-confidential-ipo-filing-us-markets" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">confidentially submitted a draft registration</a> statement to the US Securities and Exchange Commission for a proposed initial public offering, a day after <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/kraken-raises-800-million-valuation-20-billion" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">announcing an $800 million fundraising</a> round that valued the company at $20 billion.
<figure><img src="https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d8b95-6455-78cd-bacd-8741fb8e4913.png" alt="Deutsche Börse invests $200 million in Kraken parent Payward">
 <figcaption>Top cryptocurrency exchanges by trading volume. Source: CoinMarketCap
 </figcaption>
</figure>
Kraken is one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges by daily trading volume, according to CoinMarketCap <a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/rankings/exchanges/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">data</a>.
<h2 id="tradfi-institutions-expand-into-crypto">TradFi institutions expand into crypto</h2>
The move comes as other major financial market operators deepen their crypto exposure.
On March 9, Nasdaq, the second-largest stock exchange by market capitalization, <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/nasdaq-kraken-issuer-centric-tokenized-equities" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">partnered with Kraken</a> and its infrastructure subsidiary, Backed, to develop an equities transformation gateway that builds on <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/nasdaq-asks-sec-for-rule-change-to-trade-tokenized-stocks" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Nasdaq’s tokenization proposal filed</a> with US securities regulators in September 2025.
A week earlier, <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/nyse-intercontinental-exchange-invests-okx-25b-valuation" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Intercontinental Exchange invested in crypto exchange OKX</a> to bring NYSE-listed tokenized stocks to the exchange starting from the second quarter of 2026.
In January, <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/cme-group-plans-launch-of-cardano-chainlink-and-stellar-futures" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">CME Group, the</a> largest derivatives exchange by volume, announced plans to launch crypto futures contracts tied to Cardano (<a href="https://cointelegraph.com/price-indexes/ada" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">ADA)</a>, Chainlink (<a href="https://cointelegraph.com/price-indexes/chainlink" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">LINK</a>) and Stellar (<a href="https://cointelegraph.com/price-indexes/stellar" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">XLM)</a>. On April 6, <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/cme-group-launch-avalanche-sui-futures" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">CME announced plans</a> to add&nbsp; Avalanche (<a href="https://cointelegraph.com/price-indexes/avalanche" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">AVAX</a>) and Sui (<a href="https://cointelegraph.com/price-indexes/sui" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">SUI</a>) futures contracts starting May 4, subject to regulatory approval.
Magazine: <a href="https://cointelegraph-magazine.com/?p=46542&amp;preview=true&amp;_thumbnail_id=46743" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Can Robinhood or Kraken’s tokenized stocks ever be truly decentralized?</a>

Deutsche Börse invests $200 million in Kraken parent Payward

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