payward

According to two informed sources, Payward, the parent company of cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, has postponed its highly anticipated initial public offering (IPO) to as early as the second quarter of 2027. CoinDesk reported in March this year that the company had shelved its multi-billion dollar IPO plans due to a challenging market environment; this delay further extends the much-watched listing process.Payward confidentially submitted its S-1 registration statement draft to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in November 2025, shortly after the company completed an $800 million funding round at a $20 billion valuation, which included a $200 million investment from Citadel Securities. After Circle and Bullish successfully went public last year, the cryptocurrency industry originally expected a wave of listings in 2026, but weak coin prices and trading volumes, along with the lackluster market performance of some newly listed digital asset companies, dampened investor enthusiasm, leading companies like Grayscale, Consensys, and Ledger to also postpone their listing plans.During the IPO hiatus, Payward continued to expand beyond its core exchange business, venturing into traditional and crypto derivatives, tokenized stocks, and payment infrastructure through a series of acquisitions and product launches. The company's adjusted revenue for the second quarter was $508 million, a 17% year-over-year increase, with the number of funded accounts rising to 6.6 million and platform assets reaching $40 billion.

The parent company of Kraken, Payward, announced a partnership with the London Stock Exchange (LSE) to tokenize the stocks of the 100 largest companies listed on the LSE into xStocks, which are backed 1:1. The first London-listed xStocks are expected to be launched on Kraken and other platforms supporting the xStocks Alliance in the coming weeks, available to investors in over 110 countries, but not yet open to UK investors.Subject to regulatory approval, the LSE plans to list and support xStocks trading on its newly launched extended trading hours, LSE 24. LSE CEO Julia Hoggett stated that by collaborating with Payward and continuously working with the market infrastructure ecosystem, they are exploring how issuers and investors can benefit from new access methods while maintaining the standards that underpin the public market. In addition to tokenizing existing stocks, both parties will also explore the issuance of native equity tokens through LSE infrastructure, which have the same rights as traditional stocks and are fully interchangeable.Payward's tokenized stock framework was launched in June 2025 and acquired by Payward in December, having processed over $40 billion in total trading volume, covering more than 200,000 holders, with nearly $20 billion settled on-chain. According to RWA.xyz data, there are currently approximately $2.53 billion in existing tokenized stocks, with xStocks tokenizing about $606.6 million, making it the second-largest issuer after Ondo.

The London Stock Exchange (LSEG) and Payward, the parent company of the cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, announced a partnership to bring stocks of the largest listed companies in the UK onto the blockchain. In the coming weeks, the stocks of the top 100 companies listed on the LSE will be available on Payward's xStocks tokenized stock framework. These xStocks are tokens that correspond one-to-one with the underlying stocks, allowing for 24/7 trading on centralized exchanges, self-custody wallets, and on-chain applications.This initiative continues the rapidly expanding framework of Payward. Over the past year, the cumulative trading volume of xStocks has exceeded $40 billion, with nearly $20 billion settled on-chain, and more than 200,000 product holders. Through the blockchain channel, UK-listed stocks will be able to reach investor groups in over 110 countries, although xStocks are currently not available to domestic UK investors.Subject to regulatory approval, the LSE plans to list and support xStocks trading on its newly launched 24-hour trading platform, LSE 24, and will gradually cover tokenized stocks and more asset classes in the US, EU, UK, and Hong Kong. Both parties also stated that they will explore stock tokens issued natively by the LSE, allowing LSE members to issue and service stocks directly on-chain, with the same full interchangeability and rights as traditional stocks. Payward Co-CEO Arjun Sethi stated that for years, people have assumed that crypto and traditional finance must collide and one side would lose, but that has never been the real story;

According to The Block, Kraken's parent company Payward's co-CEO Dave Ripley stated that the company is exploring becoming a "full-service bank" outside the United States to expand services such as payments, lending, yield, and custody.Payward is also building asset management capabilities and transforming its infrastructure into a series of services accessible to banks, brokerages, and fintech companies.

Payward (the parent company of Kraken) stated that in the coming weeks, it will use Claude Mythos 5 to scan for vulnerabilities in all Payward environments, and the findings will be directly incorporated into its existing security program.

According to Bloomberg, Kraken operator Payward disclosed that due to a slowdown in industry trading activity, the company's adjusted pre-tax profit for the second quarter of 2026 was $23 million, a 71% decrease from $79.7 million in the same period last year; during the same period, adjusted revenue increased by 17% year-on-year to $508 million.Payward stated that although revenue continues to grow, the overall trading volume in the cryptocurrency market is weak, putting pressure on profitability. Kraken has been continuously expanding its institutional business, derivatives trading, and on-chain services in recent years, but changes in the industry cycle still exert pressure on its core trading business.

Financial technology company Broadridge has partnered with Kraken's B2B infrastructure platform Payward Services to integrate its unified governance platform with the tokenized stock framework xStocks developed by the latter. This collaboration provides qualified holders of xStocks with shareholder communication and proxy voting support, allowing token holders to participate in corporate governance voting for the companies they invest in for the first time.According to the announcement, the main features include qualified holders logging into ProxyVote.com via Web3 identity verification, receiving proxy materials and shareholder communication information in a digital format, submitting proxy voting intentions for tokenized securities supported by xStocks, and obtaining a consistent governance experience between traditional securities and mainstream tokenized models. Additionally, this service is based on Broadridge's proxy voting infrastructure, offering institutional-level governance, reporting, and audit capabilities.

According to The Block, Magic Labs has agreed to sell its embedded wallet business to cryptocurrency exchange Kraken's parent company Payward as part of a broader company restructuring, with Magic Labs simultaneously rebranding to Newton Labs. This transaction is in the form of an asset sale, and after the deal is completed, Magic Labs and Payward will continue to operate independently, with wallet customers being taken over by Payward Services.Since its establishment in 2018, Magic Labs has created over 60 million wallets, supporting more than 200,000 developers. Newton Labs will focus on developing the Newton Protocol, which is an authorization layer for on-chain finance that executes compliance, security, and risk strategies before transactions are settled on-chain. The protocol entered the mainnet testing phase in June 2026. The first product based on the Newton Protocol, VaultKit, is a set of composable strategy tools for institutional-grade vaults.This acquisition is another transaction in Payward's ongoing expansion of its financial infrastructure platform. Previously, the company completed the acquisition of the CFTC-licensed derivatives exchange Bitnomial for up to $550 million in cash and stock, and acquired the Hong Kong stablecoin payment company Reap Technologies for $600 million. In 2025, it also acquired the retail futures platform NinjaTrader for $1.5 billion.

The parent company of Kraken, Payward, has partnered with financial technology infrastructure provider GTN to promote the expansion of xStocks tokenization business into more overseas markets. The announcement stated that the two parties will first advance the tokenization of Hong Kong stocks, followed by expansion to the UK, Europe, South Korea, and other international markets, gradually covering more asset classes.According to the cooperation arrangement, GTN will provide execution, custody, and bookkeeping infrastructure covering over 90 markets, and will advance the necessary license applications in various locations. Once the relevant licenses are approved, tokenized xStocks will be opened to GTN's institutional clients.

Aave founder Stani Kulechov responded to reports regarding Kraken's parent company Payward's intention to acquire a 15% stake in the Aave protocol, stating that AAVE "cannot be sold at a 70% discount." Previously, CoinDesk reported that Payward was negotiating to acquire a 15% stake in Aave at a valuation of $385 million. Based on this valuation, it would only correspond to about 30% of the fully diluted valuation of AAVE tokens, which is significantly lower than the market valuation.Kulechov stated on X that the reports were not accurate. He did not completely deny that Aave Labs might sell some of its held AAVE tokens, but he mentioned that Aave Labs does indeed hold a certain amount of AAVE and that several market participants have discussed purchasing through direct or indirect means or engaging in deeper cooperation around long-term partnerships. Aave is the largest decentralized lending protocol in the Ethereum ecosystem. Kulechov stated that Aave currently has an annual revenue of approximately $134 million, with the related revenue flowing to Aave DAO. He had previously proposed a governance plan to redirect Aave Labs, protocol, and product revenues to Aave DAO and token holders.At the time of this rumor, Aave was experiencing some pressure. After the Kelp DAO incident in April, Aave's TVL significantly declined. Although Aave itself was not directly attacked, the KelpDAO cross-chain bridge attackers had used Aave to convert the stolen rsETH into other assets.

According to Axios, the sports prediction market Onyx Odds has completed a $20 million financing round, led by Payward, the parent company of Kraken, with a post-financing valuation of $220 million.The company's CEO Leul Dadi stated that they are planning to expand into other trading products.

According to Businesswire, Kraken's parent company Payward announced that it has received preliminary approval for brokerage, investment, and management licenses granted by the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) in Dubai, UAE, to expand its cryptocurrency business in the UAE.Payward expects to offer spot, margin, and OTC trading, staking services, and Kraken Prime services for institutional clients through locally regulated entities, as well as support for peer-to-peer cryptocurrency asset transfer functionality.

According to CoinDesk, Kraken's parent company Payward announced its Q1 2026 performance, showing adjusted revenue of $507 million, a year-on-year increase of 3%, achieving growth despite the overall downturn in the cryptocurrency market.The report indicated that Payward's futures business performed strongly during the period, with daily average revenue trades (DARTs) increasing by 51% year-on-year, mainly benefiting from the expansion of NinjaTrader, Breakout, and derivatives business.However, the company's adjusted EBITDA fell to $18 million. Payward stated that it continues to invest in mergers and acquisitions, product development, and regulatory infrastructure construction, rather than prioritizing short-term profits.Additionally, the company disclosed that Kraken's spot market share has increased from about 3.5% in mid-2025 to 5.2% in March 2026; the number of funded accounts on the platform grew by 47% year-on-year to 6.1 million, and the platform's asset scale rose to $40 billion.

According to CoinDesk, Kraken's parent company Payward is laying off about 150 employees. This move is part of the company's optimization adjustments in preparation for its IPO, according to two insiders. A Kraken spokesperson stated in a statement: "We continuously evaluate and adjust our organizational structure to ensure we have the right structure and talent to achieve growth objectives and better serve our customers."Meanwhile, Payward is seeking a new round of financing at a valuation of $20 billion to support its pre-IPO expansion strategy. Recently, the company completed a $600 million acquisition of stablecoin payment company Reap and a $550 million acquisition of digital asset derivatives platform Bitnomial. The previous largest acquisition occurred in 2025, when Payward acquired the U.S. retail futures platform NinjaTrader for $1.5 billion, which also holds a CFTC futures broker license.Payward submitted a confidential S-1 registration statement draft to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on November 19, 2025, taking the initial steps toward going public. In March of this year, CoinDesk reported that the company had postponed its IPO plans due to a sluggish market environment, but insiders indicated that the company still plans to move forward with the IPO once market conditions improve. At the Consensus Miami conference, Payward and Kraken co-CEO Arjun Sethi stated that the exchange's IPO preparations are "80%" complete.

According to Decrypt, Kraken's parent company Payward has announced a strategic partnership with asset management giant Franklin Templeton to bring some traditional financial products (including tokenized stocks and yield products) to the blockchain network. The two parties will integrate Franklin Templeton's tokenized money market fund BENJI into the Kraken platform as collateral and cash management tools for institutional clients.Payward's xStocks framework (which has processed over $30 billion in transaction volume since its launch last year) will collaborate with Franklin Templeton to explore new on-chain actively managed products, making its investment strategies available to institutions and some retail investors in specific jurisdictions. Franklin Templeton has also recently advanced its crypto business division, Franklin Crypto, by acquiring the crypto investment firm 250 Digital.

According to informed sources, Payward, the parent company of the cryptocurrency platform Kraken, is conducting a new round of capital financing at a valuation of $20 billion, to which Kraken declined to comment.The company has recently significantly increased its merger and acquisition spending—acquiring the stablecoin-focused payment company Reap for $600 million and the digital asset derivatives platform Bitnomial for $550 million, both transactions conducted at a $20 billion valuation.Its largest transaction was the $1.5 billion acquisition of the U.S. retail futures platform and CFTC-registered futures commission merchant NinjaTrader in 2025, which provided Kraken with a significant foothold in the U.S. derivatives market.Regarding IPO progress, Payward secretly submitted an S-1 registration statement draft to the U.S. SEC on November 19, 2025. Although reports in March 2026 indicated that the company paused its IPO plans due to unfavorable market conditions, sources stated that the company still intends to go public, but may wait for market improvements.At last week's Consensus conference in Miami, Payward co-CEO Arjun Sethi stated that the trading platform is "80% ready" for an IPO.Additionally, Deutsche Börse (DB1) purchased approximately 1.5% of Payward's shares for $200 million through a secondary share sale in April 2026, valuing Payward at $13.3 billion (lower than the previous financing round's valuation of about $20 billion).In November 2025, Kraken completed an $800 million financing in two tranches to push traditional financial products onto the blockchain, with investors including Jane Street, DRW Venture Capital, and Tribe Capital. Subsequently, Citadel Securities also made a strategic investment of $200 million at a $20 billion valuation.

Payward (the parent company of Kraken) has applied to the OCC for a national trust company license, planning to establish Payward National Trust Company (PNTC). This entity will provide regulated, bank-like digital asset custody and trust services to institutional and individual clients.Previously, Coinbase and Ripple have received conditional approvals for similar licenses, indicating that crypto institutions are accelerating their alignment with the compliant financial system.