Kraken’s parent company Payward is in talks with BNY — America’s oldest bank — over a potential partnership spanning six areas, including crypto custody, trading and payments, according to two people familiar with the discussions. The negotiations arrive weeks after Nasdaq Ventures agreed to invest 100 million USD in Payward at a reported 21 billion USD valuation.
By Yasmin Al-Rashid | October 2, 2026
The Hook: When the Oldest Bank Calls the Crypto Exchange
Reported first by people familiar with the matter speaking anonymously because the negotiations are private, the proposed arrangement could involve services supplied through Payward Services — the Wyoming-based company’s platform for banks, exchanges and asset managers. The talks remain ongoing, with no guarantee of an agreement. But the scope is striking: crypto products, custody, wealth management, trading, payments and financial infrastructure — a relationship across several business lines rather than a single crypto product.
For investors, this is a story about plumbing. When a 240-year-old custody giant and a major crypto group explore shared infrastructure, the likely output is not a flashy app but deeper institutional rails — the pipes through which pension funds, asset managers and banks can hold and move digital assets. Deeper rails usually mean more institutional money can enter the market with confidence, which is historically supportive of liquidity and price stability.
On-Chain Evidence: Both Sides Have Been Building Toward This
The credentials each side brings to the table explain why the market is paying attention:
- Payward’s platform offers financial companies spot crypto trading, derivatives, tokenized equities, custody, staking, payments and traditional securities — the menu BNY could potentially draw from.
- BNY, formerly Bank of New York Mellon, provides custody, asset servicing, clearing and wealth management for institutional clients, and its digital cash program already involves institutional clients and financial-market infrastructure providers.
- Nasdaq connection — one person familiar with the discussions said parts of them resemble the infrastructure work in Payward’s September agreement with Nasdaq.
That Nasdaq deal is worth revisiting because it shows how Payward operates at this level. In September, Nasdaq Ventures agreed to a 100 million USD investment valuing Payward at 21 billion USD, according to Bloomberg’s reporting. The agreement had three components: the investment, further work on Nasdaq Equity Tokens, and a market surveillance agreement under which Payward adopts Nasdaq’s surveillance technology across its crypto, equities, tokenized equities, futures and options venues. The equity tokens are expected in the second quarter of 2027, connected to Payward’s xStocks ecosystem. Payward co-CEO Arjun Sethi described the infrastructure as “rails that do not close, with shareholder rights intact.”
The Core Conflict: Talks Are Not Deals
The mandatory caution: these are negotiations, not an announcement. The people describing them explicitly noted there is no guarantee the companies reach an agreement, and Nasdaq itself cautioned that its forward-looking statements do not guarantee future performance. Crypto investors have watched promising bank partnerships dissolve before terms were finalized. Treat this as a signal of direction, not a done deal.
The backdrop, however, is a company systematically acquiring regulated capabilities. In May, Payward completed its acquisition of Bitnomial — a purchase announced in April for up to 550 million USD in cash and stock — adding a designated contract market, a derivatives clearing organization and a futures commission merchant under the CFTC’s framework. Earlier acquisitions added stablecoin payment services. Each purchase fills a regulatory box, and a BNY arrangement would extend that strategy into the heart of traditional custody.
Market Implications: The Institutional Stack Is Assembling
Zoom out and the pattern is unmistakable. BNY has been building its own digital capabilities: in a January 9 announcement, it described a deposit-tokenization program that creates blockchain records mirroring clients’ existing deposit balances, starting with collateral and margin workflows on a private, permissioned blockchain. Institutions including Citadel Securities, Invesco and WisdomTree have commented on the program. ICE’s clearing leadership has separately discussed supporting tokenized deposits across its clearinghouses as it prepares for 24-hour trading.
If Payward and BNY connect, crypto-native trading infrastructure meets bank-grade custody and asset servicing — a combination that addresses the two objections institutions most often cite: where assets are held, and who services them. For retail investors, the practical read is that the industry’s institutional on-ramps are being built by names they already trust with their retirement accounts.
The Verdict
A Payward-BNY partnership is not a reason to buy anything today — talks may still collapse, and nothing has been signed. But the market is digesting a steady accumulation of institutional infrastructure: a Nasdaq investment at a 21 billion USD valuation, a CFTC-regulated derivatives stack, tokenized equities planned for 2027, and now America’s oldest bank at the negotiating table. Bull markets built on retail hype fade; ones built on custody agreements and surveillance technology tend to have longer foundations. Watch whether these talks convert into an announcement — that is when the market will price it.
The cryptocurrency market remains highly volatile. This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.
BNY is americas oldest bank negotiating custody and trading rails with an exchange valued at 21 billion. that sentence would have gotten you committed in 2019
worth remembering these are anonymous sources and talks can die quietly. but payward services already runs bank grade infrastructure out of wyoming, the fit makes sense
anonymous sources said the same about the nasdaq round three weeks before it printed. the leak cadence on this one feels deliberate, someone wants the valuation in the air
committed in 2019 lmao. and its six business lines not just custody, payments rails too. BNY basically shopping for a crypto arm without buying one
six business lines including payments infrastructure. the nasdaq ventures 100M was the tell, tradfi courtship of kraken is very real
six business lines on the table at 21 billion and somehow the headline is still just talks. the nasdaq ventures money already told us the direction
BNY doing custody for Kraken would be the oldest bank in america shaking hands with the thing it spent a decade ignoring. wild timeline
skeptical is generous, bny spent a decade politely ignoring all of this. now the oldest custodian in the country wants the flow, money talks
no guarantee of agreement, standard leak language. still, BNY doing diligence on an exchange beats another cftc subpoena headline lol
custody is table stakes, every bank chat starts there because it is the easiest box to tick. payments and wealth management are where a BNY deal would actually move the needle
21 billion valuation after the Nasdaq Ventures round, and now six different partnership areas on the table. That is not a pilot, that is a full integration negotiation.
six areas does read like a full stack negotiation but id bet custody closes first. lowest regulatory friction of the six by a mile
Custody closes first, agreed. But keep an eye on the stablecoin rails piece, that is where BNY actually changes the game for an exchange like Kraken.
custody first is the obvious read but payments is where payward already has plumbing. bny could bolt settlement onto a running engine instead of building from zero
six areas including payments though. trading and custody I get, but BNY moving into crypto payments is the interesting part here
payments is the interesting one for sure. BNY running settlement rails for exchange payments would quietly beat every fintech partnership announcement from the last two years
BNY already settles most us treasury flow. if payward plugs exchange payments into that rails layer the 21 billion valuation starts looking cheap
plug exchange settlement into existing treasury rails and the 21 billion pays for itself in ops savings alone
kraken went from surviving the mt gox era to negotiating six business lines with americas oldest bank at a 21 billion valuation. what a decade