Payward Revenue Surges Amid Crypto Trading Decline
Payward, Inc., the parent company of Kraken, reported second-quarter adjusted revenue of $508 million, up 17% year over year. This growth comes despite a decline in total platform transaction volume, which fell 13% to $310 billion.
Crypto spot trading volume declined by 27.9% industry-wide in the second quarter, according to Finance Magnates. However, Payward gained spot market share for a third straight quarter and saw an increase in futures, equities, and tokenised equities activity.
Funded accounts rose 42% year over year to 6.6 million, with significant momentum in the EEA following Payward's MiCA authorisation. Client balances grew 48% year over year to $65 billion at constant asset prices.
The growth in accounts and balances aligns with a shift in Payward's revenue mix. Asset-based and other revenue rose to 60% of total revenue from 55% a year earlier, driven by the launch of Flexline, a crypto-backed credit line for US clients, and the expansion of its virtual IBAN product.
Payward built this regulated infrastructure through two acquisitions: Bitnomial, which gave the company a CFTC-regulated US derivatives stack, and Reap, a stablecoin-native payments and card-issuing platform. The latter deal closed on July 1.