Payward, the parent company of Kraken, has spent more than 2 billion USD on acquisitions to transform itself from a crypto exchange operator into a four-pillar financial platform, and its second-quarter results show the strategy beginning to pay off as non-trading revenue climbs to 60 percent of the business.
By Yasmin Al-Rashid | September 27, 2026
CoinDesk reported on September 26 that co-CEO Arjun Sethi now describes Payward as one financial platform built around a shared infrastructure stack, with trading through Kraken forming just one of four operating pillars alongside banking, asset management and Payward Services. The picture that emerges from the company’s financial disclosures is of a deliberate pivot away from the boom-and-bust economics of exchange fees toward diversified, regulated financial infrastructure.
The Hook: Trading Volume Fell, Revenue Rose
The second-quarter numbers explain the strategy. Payward reported 508 million USD in adjusted revenue, up 17 percent year over year, with adjusted EBITDA of 23 million USD. Total platform transaction volume actually fell 18 percent year over year to 310 billion USD as crypto spot activity weakened. Yet revenue grew anyway, because asset-based and other revenue reached 60 percent of the total, up from 55 percent a year earlier. Funded accounts hit a record 6.6 million, holding 40 billion USD in assets on Payward platforms.
That mix shift is the entire thesis. Traditional futures, equities and tokenized equities grew during the quarter even as spot crypto softened, and futures daily average revenue trades rose 8 percent. The company is increasingly earning money from custody, payments, settlement and services rather than depending on retail trading frenzy.
Buying Regulated Infrastructure Instead of Building It
The acquisition spree is what made that possible. Kraken agreed in March 2025 to acquire U.S. futures brokerage NinjaTrader for 1.5 billion USD, bringing traditional futures trading and its regulatory apparatus into the group. Payward followed with the acquisition of Bitnomial for up to 550 million USD in cash and stock, a deal completed May 1 that added a CFTC-regulated designated contract market, derivatives clearing organization and futures commission merchant, the first crypto-native U.S. platform to hold all three main derivatives registrations together. That infrastructure now supports regulated U.S. perpetual futures and spot margin products.
In September, Payward went further on-chain, announcing plans to offer perpetual futures built on Hyperliquid’s HIP-3 infrastructure to eligible U.S. clients, subject to regulatory approval. Under the proposed structure, Bitnomial would deploy, administer, clear and settle the contracts while NinjaTrader Clearing carries customer accounts, a notable marriage of decentralized trading technology and regulated clearing.
Tokenized Equities Reach Nasdaq and the LSE
The tokenized equities push has won Payward partnerships with two of the world’s most established exchange operators. On September 10, Nasdaq announced that Nasdaq Ventures would invest 100 million USD in Payward, valuing the company at 21 billion USD, while expanding collaboration on the Nasdaq Equity Token framework, which is expected to launch in the second quarter of 2027. Payward will provide technology for distribution, trading and post-trade functions for tokenized equities and longer trading hours.
The London Stock Exchange has separately partnered with Payward to list xStocks, tokenized representations of publicly traded shares and ETFs, on its forthcoming LSE 24 venue during 2027, subject to regulatory approval. Payward tightened its grip on that product line by acquiring Backed Finance, the developer of the tokenized securities platform behind xStocks. Sethi’s rationale for partnering rather than competing: traditional exchanges still provide regulatory and listing infrastructure built over decades. “Trust is their currency,” he told CoinDesk.
Selling the Plumbing to Everyone Else
The fourth pillar, Payward Services, is where the strategy becomes most interesting. The business packages Kraken’s internally built trading, custody, liquidity, funding, payments, compliance, risk management and settlement technology into APIs that banks, fintechs and brokers can integrate. At least 25 companies are already developing products on the infrastructure, and the unified Payward Services API has brought its first external partner live with integrations covering conversions, transfers, European equities and request-for-quote infrastructure.
Acquisitions keep feeding that stack. Payward closed its purchase of stablecoin payments company Reap in July, adding payments and card issuance, and agreed later that month to acquire Magic Labs’ wallet infrastructure business, which supports wallets used by around 60 million users. September brought further integrations covering Ledger hardware wallets, stablecoin card programs through Reap and Visa, on-chain xStocks yield and IPO access.
The company has kept its planned public listing on a longer timetable, having confidentially submitted a draft registration statement, and has kept that process separate from its expansion funding. But the direction is unmistakable. While rivals fight for spot trading market share, Payward is positioning itself as plumbing for the entire digital asset economy, regulated derivatives, tokenized stocks, payments and banking included. If the second-quarter mix shift continues, the Kraken brand may eventually be the smallest part of the empire it built.
The cryptocurrency market remains highly volatile. This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.
2 billion spent on acquisitions but only 23 million adjusted EBITDA on 508 million revenue? the diversification thesis is expensive so far
give it a year undersells how fast futures licenses ramp once volume returns. NinjaTrader was bought for exactly that regulatory shelf, its a time play not a results play
thats the NinjaTrader price tag talking, 1.5 billion for the futures licenses. give it a year before judging the ebitda
give it a year is generous, futures licenses print the second volume comes back. coinbase took what, three?
60 percent non-trading revenue while spot volume fell 18 percent, this is the coinbase playbook executed faster honestly
60 percent non trading revenue while volume fell is the whole story. kraken spent the bear market buying licenses instead of firing everyone, rare discipline in this industry
trading volume down 18 percent but revenue up 17 percent, that is the diversification story in two numbers
2 billion in acquisitions to get there though. 23 million adjusted EBITDA on 508 million revenue is still thin, hold the champagne
23M EBITDA on 508M revenue with 2B spent is a fintech startup pitch, not an exchange P&L. works if the licenses compound, ugly if volume stays soft
the licenses dont compound, the customer base does. ninjaTrader traders are exactly who you migrate into custody and banking products over time. the 2B buys optionality either way
Thin margins for sure, but that 2B went into licenses and customer bases, not burned cash. Sethi is basically buying compound interest from regulators.
thin EBITDA yes, but 1.5 of that 2 billion went to NinjaTrader. the run rate math looks very different once that deal closes a full year
23M on 508M is thin but its adjusted for integration costs across a 2B shopping spree. the clean read is whether the 60 percent non trading share holds next quarter without another acquisition propping it up
60 percent of revenue from non-trading is wild for an exchange. banking, custody, asset management, that is where the sticky money lives
four pillars on one stack is consultant speak but 60 percent non-trading revenue is the real headline. exchanges that stayed pure spot are sweating
consultant speak or not, its working. coinbase spent years grinding into subscriptions, payward did it with two years and 2 billion of m&a. sethi timed the cycle better than most
thin ebitda is the cost of the pivot year, coinbase looked worse mid buildout too. whether the NinjaTrader cross sell converts is the real question
everyone arguing about the 23M ebitda ignores payward services, the boring pillar doing the heavy lifting. processing and infra revenue doesnt care if volume is up or down 18 percent
agreed on services doing the lifting, question is whether NinjaTrader traders actually convert into custody clients or just churn the promo and leave
the churn question answers itself if you look at what ninjaTrader users already do. they hold margin balances all day, migrating that float into custody products is a checkbox
exactly, and revenue up 17 while volume fell 18 is mostly that boring pillar carrying. nobody makes slides about processing fees but thats the sticky money
payward services being the boring cash machine is the whole bull case. infra revenue while everyone else flexes volume stats
exactly, processing revenue is the moat coinbase spent a decade building. payward shortcut it with 2b of m&a, smart if it holds
60 percent non trading revenue in a quarter where volume fell is the thesis working already. single pillar exchanges are one bad quarter from a re rate
Agreed, and the reverse holds too. Pure spot exchanges are one volume drought from cutting research and racing to bolt on derivatives.
508m revenue with only 23m ebitda though. the re-rate thesis only works if the margin catches up to the mix shift, right now its carrying 2b of acquisitions on fumes
fumes is strong for a pivot year. but agree the ninjaTrader cross sell has to show up in numbers by q2 or the re rate crowd goes quiet
margin catches up when the futures licenses amortize, ninjaTrader alone was 1.5b of that spend. four quarters of run rate and the ebitda math looks different