Payward, the company behind Kraken, is expanding far beyond crypto trading. It is building a wider financial business that includes regulated derivatives, tokenized stocks, payments, banking services and financial technology for other companies.
The company reported $508 million in adjusted revenue for the second quarter of 2026, up 17% from the same period last year. Adjusted EBITDA reached $23 million.
At the same time, total transaction volume fell 18% year over year to $310 billion as crypto spot trading slowed. However, other areas such as futures, traditional equities and tokenized stocks continued to grow. Daily average futures revenue trades increased 8%.
Payward also said 60% of its revenue now comes from asset-based and other sources, compared with 55% a year earlier.
The company had about $40 billion in assets across its platforms during the quarter, while funded accounts reached a record 6.6 million.
Payward is building this business through both acquisitions and partnerships.
In March 2025, Kraken agreed to buy NinjaTrader for $1.5 billion. The deal brought traditional futures trading and additional regulated infrastructure into the group. NinjaTrader continues to operate as a separate platform.
Payward later acquired Bitnomial for up to $550 million in cash and stock. Bitnomial brought a U.S. regulated derivatives exchange, clearing organization and futures brokerage into the company.
The acquisition gave Payward control over several important parts of the derivatives system instead of relying entirely on outside providers. The company completed the deal on May 1.
Bitnomial has since supported regulated U.S. perpetual futures and spot margin products. Payward is also planning to offer perpetual futures using Hyperliquid’s HIP-3 infrastructure to eligible U.S. customers, pending regulatory approval.
Under the planned setup, Bitnomial would handle the deployment, administration, clearing and settlement of the contracts, while NinjaTrader Clearing would manage eligible customer accounts.
Payward is also moving deeper into tokenized stocks.
On Sept. 10, Nasdaq agreed to invest $100 million in Payward. The two companies are working on infrastructure for tokenized equities and longer trading hours.
The Nasdaq Equity Token system is expected to launch in the second quarter of 2027. The investment valued Payward at about $21 billion.
The London Stock Exchange is also working with Payward. The exchange plans to list xStocks on its planned LSE 24 venue in 2027, subject to regulatory approval.
xStocks are tokenized versions of publicly traded stocks and exchange-traded funds. Payward gained more control over this technology through its acquisition of Backed Finance.
Payward CEO Arjun Sethi said partnerships with major traditional exchanges are important because these institutions already have decades of experience with regulation, markets and financial infrastructure.
Payward is also turning technology built for Kraken into services that other financial companies can use.
Its Payward Services business provides trading, custody, liquidity, funding, payments, compliance, risk management and settlement tools through shared technology. Sethi said at least 25 companies were building products using the infrastructure.
The company’s unified Payward Services API has already brought its first outside partner live. Other integrations have added services such as conversions, transfers, European equities and Kraken’s request-for-quote system.
Payward is continuing to expand through acquisitions. It completed the purchase of stablecoin payments company Reap in July, adding payment and card infrastructure.
Later that month, Payward agreed to acquire Magic Labs’ wallet business. The technology supports wallets used by around 60 million users and is expected to become part of Payward Services once the deal is completed.
The company has also announced new integrations involving Ledger, stablecoin card programs through Reap and Visa, xStocks yield products and access to initial public offerings.
While Payward is spending heavily on expansion, its planned IPO remains separate from that strategy.
The company confidentially submitted a draft registration statement to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in November 2025. It has not yet announced a ticker, share price or number of shares.
Payward is not expected to complete an IPO before the second quarter of 2027 at the earliest. Sethi said the company does not need an IPO to fund its operations because it remains profitable and can finance investments from its own balance sheet.
Recent funding has brought strategic investors such as Citadel Securities and Nasdaq into the company.
Payward is also looking to expand its regulated banking business in Europe. Sethi said the company was preparing to buy a bank in Europe but did not name the target. Earlier reports linked the discussions to a possible bank acquisition in Lithuania.
Overall, Payward is building a much broader financial platform around the technology and infrastructure it developed through Kraken. Trading remains a major part of the business, but the company is increasingly focused on derivatives, tokenized assets, payments, banking and financial services for other companies.
