Kraken Parent Payward Buys Hong Kong's Reap in $600M Stablecoin Deal

Kraken's parent company Payward has made its first major move into Asia with the acquisition of Hong Kong-based Reap Technologies for up to $600 million. The deal, structured as a combination of cash and Payward stock, brings Payward's total spending on high-profile acquisitions to over $2.6 billion. Reap specializes in cross-border payment services that connect traditional financial systems with digital assets.

Payward Inc., the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, announced the acquisition on May 7. The deal is expected to expand Payward's B2B infrastructure platform into card issuance, cross-border payments, and stablecoin treasury services. Reap co-founders Daren Guo and Kevin Kang said the platform will continue operating as a standalone product after closing, subject to regulatory approvals in the second half of 2026.

'Reap is the payments layer for what comes next,' Payward co-CEO Arjun Sethi said. 'Card networks, banking rails, and blockchains on a single API, settling in stablecoins.' The acquisition marks Payward's third-largest transaction overall, following its $1.5 billion purchase of retail futures platform NinjaTrader in 2025 and the recent close of its acquisition of CFTC-licensed derivatives exchange Bitnomial for up to $550 million.