Payward Accelerates Crypto Acquisition Spree with Magic Labs Embedded Wallet Deal

Payward, the parent company of cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, has made another significant acquisition in the embedded wallet business of Magic Labs. This deal adds to a string of acquisitions by Payward, including Backed Finance, Magna, and Bitnomial for $550 million. The financial terms of the Magic Labs wallet deal have not been disclosed.

Magic Labs' embedded wallet business has powered over 50 million wallet creations, indicating its scale and potential. As part of this acquisition, Payward is rebranding Magic Labs as Newton Labs, which will pivot towards onchain finance infrastructure, including chain unification protocols and AI-driven asset management tools.

Newton Labs is building the Newton protocol, focusing on chain unification to tackle liquidity fragmentation across dozens of networks. The company also plans to develop AI-driven asset management and a suite of developer tools for modernizing digital asset interactions. A collaboration with Polygon's AggLayer has been flagged as part of its cross-chain strategy.

This acquisition highlights Payward's aggressive M&A run in the crypto space, which shows no signs of slowing down. The company is assembling a range of capabilities, including regulated derivatives infrastructure, tokenized real-world assets, and embedded wallet technology.