Payward Dumps Billions into Unified Financial Infrastructure

Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, is on a spending spree to build a financial platform that combines trading, payments, asset management, and institutional services on shared infrastructure. The strategy involves three approaches: building core capabilities, acquiring businesses that would take too long to develop, and partnering with established financial institutions to accelerate distribution or access.

Over the past two years, Payward has acquired several businesses spanning futures, derivatives, trading technology, and tokenized equities, while expanding its banking and payments capabilities in the United States and Europe. The company completed its acquisition of Backed in January 2026, bringing the issuance, trading, and settlement of its xStocks tokenized-equity platform under the same corporate structure.

Payward is also using partnerships to fill gaps rather than owning every layer of the financial stack. For instance, it partnered with Ledger to connect its trading, payments, and tokenized-equity infrastructure with Ledger's self-custody technology. The result is a model in which Kraken remains the consumer-facing financial platform while Payward operates the underlying infrastructure.

The company reported $2.2 billion in adjusted revenue for 2025, up 33% from a year earlier, while adjusted EBITDA rose 26% to $531 million. Trading accounted for 47% of revenue with the remainder coming from areas including custody, payments, and financing.