Wells Fargo is in talks to source crypto liquidity from Kraken parent Payward

Nasdaq's September agreement to invest $100 million in Payward at a valuation of roughly $21 billion ^[4] buys a stake of about 0.5% ^[12]. Wells Fargo was Nasdaq's exclusive capital markets adviser on that agreement ^[5]. The bank has therefore already worked on a transaction that priced the company it is now reportedly negotiating with as a supplier.

The partnering reading is sound for execution, where the source has Payward supplying the depth. It is thin as a description of strategy (or rather, of what the evidence lets anyone say about strategy). Wells Fargo is also backing Talos, a trading platform provider, and Elliptic, a compliance technology firm ^[9], and in our view that looks like a crypto stack assembled from outside parts, with Payward as one of them. The report's wording is a full trading infrastructure built from scratch ^[2], and that leaves room for a partial build on top of Payward's depth. Everything here comes from unnamed individuals, as relayed by Crowdfund Insider ^[1].

There are three ways this goes differently from a clean partnership. The talks lapse, since the report calls a deal uncertain ^[3]. Wells Fargo signs Payward and a second liquidity provider, and Payward is one source among several. Or Wells Fargo signs Payward alone and the partnering reading holds as stated. The report does not include fees or exclusivity, so the second and third cannot be told apart today.

We would call the thesis wrong if Wells Fargo names another liquidity provider next to Payward, or describes a market-making desk of its own.