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Payward Q2 performance and international banking exploration

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2026-08-31 22:36 UTC → 2026-09-05 21:37 UTC · added ~~removed~~

Payward, the parent company of ~~the cryptocurrency exchange~~ Kraken, reported second-quarter revenue of $508 million, a 17% year-over-year increase. This growth was driven by a shift toward non-trading services, such as staking and tokenized stocks, which now constitute 60% of total revenue. While funded accounts grew 42% to 6.6 million and assets under custody reached $40 billion, the company experienced a sharp divergence in profitability. Adjusted EBITDA fell to $23 million from approximately $80 million the previous year, alongside a decline in total platform transaction volume to $310 billion. To bolster its ecosystem, Payward has pursued acquisitions including the U.S. derivatives platform NinjaTrader, the automated trading tool Capitalise.ai, and a stablecoin payment platform. Recent funding rounds have reportedly valued the company between $13 billion and $20 billion, amid speculation of a potential IPO. Strategically, Payward is exploring becoming a full bank in a non-U.S. jurisdiction to reduce reliance on third-party partners. This follows its existing institutional infrastructure, such as the Wyoming-chartered Kraken Financial and Kraken Institutional custody services. Additionally, Payward is in advanced negotiations with Hyperliquid Labs to facilitate the latter’s entry into the U.S. market. The proposed arrangement involves allowing American traders to access certain perpetual futures through Bitnomial, a regulated Payward subsidiary. Payward has reportedly submitted a proposal to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to address regulatory hurdles related to Hyperliquid’s decentralized architecture. This structure aims to comply with U.S. derivatives frameworks by routing access through Bitnomial’s regulated infrastructure. While the deal follows remarks from President Donald Trump regarding efforts to bring such platforms onshore, experts suggest that implementing the necessary regulatory revisions for this model could take 10 to 12 months.

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