Funded accounts grew 42% to 6.6 million; asset-based and other revenue reached 60% of total revenue as growth broadened beyond trading CHEYENNE, Wyo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--August 14, 2026-- Payward, Inc., the unified financial infrastructure platform behind a family of products including Kraken, today reported financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2026. Payward generated Adjusted Revenue of $508 million, up 17% year over year, and remained Adjusted EBITDA positive at $23 million. Growth was broad-based across the company's four business pillars. As crypto spot volumes declined across the industry,[1] Payward's traditional futures, equities and tokenized equities activity grew, and the company gained spot market share for the third consecutive quarter. "Three forces are rearranging global markets: convergence across asset classes, the onshoring of activity into regulated venues, and the automation of market participation," said Arjun Sethi, Co-CEO of Payward. "Each rewards the same decision we made years ago -- to build one platform rather than a collection of products. One matching engine, one risk engine, one settlement core, and more than 100 licenses and registrations behind all of it." Second Quarter 2026 Financial Highlights -- Adjusted Revenue: $508 million, up 17% year over year -- Adjusted EBITDA: $23 million, positive for the quarter --
Total Platform Transaction Volume: $310 billion, down 13% year over
year, with mix shifting toward equities and tokenized equities as crypto
spot volumes declined industry-wide
--
Assets on Platform: $40 billion. Measured in real terms, holding prices
constant, client balances grew for a fourth consecutive quarter; Real
Assets on Platform grew 48% year over year to $65 billion [2]
--
Funded Accounts: 6.6 million, up 42% year over year, with particular
momentum in the EEA following MiCA authorization
--
Futures DARTs: up 8% year over year
--
Revenue mix: Asset Based and Other Revenue rose to 60% of total revenue
from 55% in the prior-year quarter
In May, the company aligned its cost structure with market conditions
while protecting investment in its highest-priority growth initiatives.
Business Highlights
Payward Trading. Launched the first CFTC-regulated spot margin offering
for U.S. retail clients and the first CFTC-regulated perpetual futures
available to U.S. traders, both built on Bitnomial infrastructure.
Introduced Kraken Prop, a capital-backed proprietary trading program;
pre-IPO perpetual futures for eligible non-U.S. clients; and expanded
leverage and collateral options on Kraken Pro. Announced direct DEX
access coming to the Kraken app.
Payward Banking. Launched Flexline, a crypto-backed line of credit,
extending it to U.S. clients in June. Expanded Krak virtual IBANs and
the 1% salary match to 11 additional European markets. Added real-world
assets and SPL tokens to qualified custody.
Payward Asset Management. Opened tokenized pre-IPO exposure to eligible
retail clients globally, beginning with SpaceX and expanding to Bending
Spoons. Launched Bitcoin Vaults on Krak, combined crypto and xStocks
bundles, and extended Opt-In Rewards to xStocks holders.
Payward Services. Brought the first external partner live on the unified
Payward Services API. Launched a DeFi Earn Bitcoin Vault that drew
approximately $400 million in deposits. Expanded xStocks distribution to
BNB Chain, Mantle and Bitget Wallet, with OKX going live in July. Led a
$20 million Series A in Onyx Odds, which is building prediction markets
on Payward's regulated U.S. derivatives stack.
Strategic M&A. Bitnomial closed May 1, completing the company's U.S.
CFTC-regulated derivatives stack. Reap, a stablecoin-native payments and
card issuing platform, closed July 1. On July 27, Payward announced an
agreement to acquire the wallet infrastructure business of Magic Labs,
which will add embedded wallets to the Payward Services stack on
closing.
Partnerships. Announced collaborations with MoneyGram on global
crypto-to-cash conversion, Franklin Templeton on tokenized assets
including plans to tokenize seven ETFs through xStocks, and Tempo on
payments and stablecoin infrastructure. Kraken was named Official Crypto
Exchange Supporter of the FIFA World Cup 2026$(TM)$.
Licensing. Received preliminary approval from Dubai's VARA for a
broker-dealer, investment and management license, secured VASP
registration in the British Virgin Islands, and filed an application for
an OCC national trust company charter in May.
Proof of Reserves
Payward completed its latest quarterly Proof of Reserves as of June 30,
2026, validated by third-party accounting firm The Network Firm. Clients
can independently verify that their assets are fully backed onchain.
About Payward
Payward, Inc. is a unified financial infrastructure platform that powers
a family of products advancing an open, global financial system. Built
on a single shared architecture, Payward enables customers to hold,
trade, earn, pay, and invest across asset classes without friction or
fragmentation.
At its core, Payward provides the infrastructure layer behind Kraken and
a growing set of purpose-built products, including NinjaTrader, Breakout,
xStocks, and CF Benchmarks. Payward separates infrastructure from
product expression. Each product surface is designed for a specific
customer segment, regulatory regime, and use case, while operating on
the same global foundation:
--
One global liquidity pool
--
One unified risk and margin engine
--
One collateral and settlement system
--
One compliance and licensing framework
This shared architecture allows Payward to scale efficiently, launch new
products at low marginal cost, and serve diverse global markets while
maintaining consistent risk management, regulatory integrity, and
operational resilience.
For more information about Payward, please visit www.payward.com.
Forward-looking statements: This release contains forward-looking
statements regarding, among other things, product plans, pending
acquisitions and market conditions. These statements involve risks and
uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially. Payward
undertakes no obligation to update them except as required by law.
Definitions of key operating metrics
Total Platform Transaction Volume: The aggregate notional value,
expressed in US dollar terms, of transactions executed across Payward's
platforms during the period presented. This includes, but is not limited
to, transaction activity in Spot, Margin, Crypto Futures, Instant Buy &
Sell, OTC & Prime Spot, Equities, and xStocks.
Assets on Platform: The aggregate value, expressed in US dollar terms,
of assets held by Payward's customers across all products and asset
types -- including crypto, equities, and fiat currencies -- measured as
of the last day of the fiscal quarter.
Funded Accounts: The total number of distinct customer accounts across
Payward's platforms and products that maintained a balance greater than
zero as of the last day of the fiscal quarter. Sub-accounts are counted
as separate accounts for purposes of this metric.
Futures DARTs: The total number of Futures trades across Payward's
platforms, divided by the number of trading days in the period.
Represents Daily Average Revenue Trades across TradFi futures and Crypto
futures.
Footnotes
[1] Based on Payward's analysis of public exchange crypto spot trading
volume data.
[2] Assets on Platform growth in "real terms" is calculated with asset
prices held constant at Q2 2025 levels to isolate net client inflows
from market-driven price movement. Excludes assets that have declined
more than 99% in value relative to the Q2 2025 baseline to avoid
distortion from severely impaired tokens.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260814980519/en/
CONTACT:
Media Contact press@payward.com