Payward Expands Financial Empire Through Acquisitions and Partnerships

Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, is expanding its financial infrastructure empire. The company's goal is to unify trading, banking, asset management, and business services on a single platform.

PAYWARD has made significant investments in recent years, including purchasing futures brokerage NinjaTrader for $1.5 billion in March 2025 and Bitnomial for up to $550 million in cash and stock in May 2026. These acquisitions have brought regulated trading infrastructure to the company's portfolio.

The company is also pushing into tokenized equities through partnerships with Nasdaq and the London Stock Exchange (LSE). Nasdaq invested $100 million in Payward, valuing it at $21 billion as part of that investment. The LSE plans to list xStocks, tokenized versions of public shares and funds, on a new venue called LSE 24 in 2027.

Payward's financial performance is also impressive, with $508 million in adjusted revenue for the second quarter of 2026, up 17% year over year. The company has also filed confidential paperwork for a public listing, but its co-CEO Arjun Sethi stated that it does not need to go public to fund its plans.