BNY in Talks With Payward, Kraken Parent, Over Infrastructure Partnership

BNY exploring a broad infrastructure deal with Kraken's parent company

Bank of New York Mellon, one of the largest custody banks in the world, is in discussions with Payward, the Wyoming-based parent of crypto exchange Kraken, over a potential partnership covering digital assets and financial-market infrastructure, according to two people familiar with the matter. The talks are still ongoing, and there is no guarantee a deal will be reached. Both Payward and BNY declined to comment.

Key details

• The potential agreement could cover digital assets, custody, wealth management, trading, payments, and other financial infrastructure.
• Some elements could mirror the infrastructure component of Payward's recent partnership with Nasdaq.
• Payward provides these services through Payward Services, its business-to-business platform for banks, exchanges, and asset managers.

What the sources say

According to the people familiar with the discussions, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks are private, the proposed arrangement could resemble parts of Payward's existing deal with Nasdaq. That agreement, announced last month, includes a $100 million investment by Nasdaq Ventures in Payward at a $21 billion valuation, along with expanded collaboration on tokenized equities.

Under the Nasdaq deal, Payward will adopt Nasdaq's market-surveillance technology across its crypto, equities, tokenized-equities, futures, and options platforms. The two companies plan to launch Nasdaq Equity Tokens in the second quarter of 2027.

Why this matters for institutional crypto

A partnership with BNY would deepen Payward's effort to connect its digital-asset operations with established Wall Street firms. BNY, formerly known as Bank of New York Mellon, provides custody, asset servicing, clearing, and wealth-management services to institutional clients.

BNY has also been developing tokenized deposits designed to support near-real-time onchain settlement between institutional market participants, part of a broader push by the bank into digital-asset infrastructure.

What is still unclear

It is not clear whether a deal will materialize or what specific terms might be on the table. The discussions are ongoing and no agreement has been reached.

About Payward

Payward operates the Kraken cryptocurrency exchange and has built a growing collection of trading, payments, and infrastructure businesses. Its products include spot crypto, derivatives, tokenized equities, custody, staking, and traditional securities. The company has expanded through acquisitions, including a $550 million deal for derivatives firm Bitnomial in April 2026 and a $600 million acquisition of stablecoin-payments company Reap.

Sources

• CoinDesk