BNY was in discussions with Payward, the Wyoming-based parent of the crypto exchange Kraken, about a broad partnership across digital assets and financial-market infrastructure, CoinDesk reported on 2 October 2026, citing two people familiar with the matter. Both companies declined to comment, and CoinDesk described the BNY Payward talks as ongoing, with no guarantee of an agreement. Nothing here is confirmed by either company.

What CoinDesk’s Sources Say the BNY Payward Talks Cover

According to the two people, a deal could span crypto products, custody, wealth management, trading and payments, plus the underlying infrastructure. Those services belong to Payward Services, the unit that sells to banks, exchanges and asset managers. That matters because it frames BNY as a customer and distribution partner for an existing product line, not as a buyer of a new business, though that is my reading and the sources do not say it. One source said parts of a BNY arrangement could resemble the infrastructure side of Payward’s agreement with Nasdaq. CoinDesk also notes that BNY has been developing tokenized deposits aimed at moving money onchain between institutional participants, which would give the bank its own reasons to engage.

The Nasdaq Template for the BNY Payward Talks

Nasdaq Ventures committed $100 million to Payward in September 2026 at a $21 billion valuation, with Nasdaq Equity Tokens slated to go live in the second quarter of 2027. The tokens would connect Nasdaq-listed shares to Payward’s xStocks product, with shareholder rights and issuer control kept intact. Payward also plans to run Nasdaq’s surveillance software on every venue it operates, from crypto to options. If the BNY Payward talks follow that model, the part that would transfer is the infrastructure and not the equity stake.

Fintechbits analysis

Why a Custody Bank Would Want This

CoinDesk describes BNY as an institutional custodian that also clears trades, services assets and runs wealth management. A partnership with Payward would give it a licensed crypto trading and custody stack without building one, and my read is that this is the faster route for an incumbent that is already working on tokenized deposits. Buying access beats building when the technology and the regulatory permissions both take years.

For Payward the logic is credibility and distribution. It has bought its way across the market, agreeing in April to acquire Bitnomial for as much as $550 million, then a $600 million deal for the stablecoin-payments company Reap, after a roughly $1.5 billion purchase of NinjaTrader in 2025. CoinDesk also reported that the Payward IPO has slipped to 2027 at the earliest. A large custody bank’s name would help any listing story. Fintechbits has covered two earlier ties to regulated names, SoFi’s banking rails link to Payward and the London Stock Exchange tokenization plan, both in early September, and Nasdaq came in the same month. Add the BNY Payward talks and Payward would have approached or signed four established financial institutions in about a month, which is a pattern worth watching whether or not this deal closes.

What a Rumor Cannot Tell You

Everything here rests on two anonymous people. There is no valuation, no ownership structure and no indication of direction: BNY could be a customer of Payward’s services, a distributor of them, or an investor, and CoinDesk does not say which. No regulatory approvals are mentioned and no timetable is given. The word “resemble” in the Nasdaq comparison is the source’s loose description, not a term sheet. BNY’s own tokenized-deposit work is also a reason it might build rather than partner on parts of this, a possibility the report does not address. For all those gaps, the BNY Payward talks deserve a place in the record only as an unconfirmed report.

What to Watch Next on the BNY Payward Talks

A confirmed announcement would show which parts of the list survive: custody and payments are the likeliest, trading and wealth management the least certain for a bank of BNY’s profile. The second thing to watch is Payward’s IPO timing. If the second-quarter 2027 target holds and a BNY deal lands before it, the story becomes a listing narrative built on regulated partners. If the BNY Payward talks fade without an announcement, the Nasdaq template remains the only proven model.

Questions and answers

Is BNY in talks with Payward?

CoinDesk reported on 2 October 2026, citing two anonymous sources, that BNY is in talks with Payward, the parent of Kraken, and both companies declined to comment.

What could a BNY and Payward deal cover?

The two sources told CoinDesk a BNY deal could span custody, trading, payments, wealth management and the infrastructure behind them, drawing on Payward Services.

How much is Payward worth?

Nasdaq Ventures committed $100 million to Payward in September 2026 at a $21 billion valuation, which is the most recent priced figure in the coverage.

When might Payward go public?

CoinDesk reported that the Payward IPO has slipped to 2027 at the earliest.