Payward Unveils Plan to Expand Beyond Kraken Exchange

Payward, the parent company of Kraken, is shifting its focus from solely earning revenue through customer trades on its exchange. According to Co-CEO Arjun Sethi, the company aims to open up its expanded infrastructure, acquired through billion-dollar deals, to other financial institutions. This shared infrastructure will include services such as custody, liquidity, payments, risk management, and regulatory compliance.

The goal is to bring together Kraken's banking, trading, asset management, and other services for companies on a single platform. At least 25 companies are currently developing products using Payward's infrastructure, with launch expected in 2026. The end result will be that users won't need to have a direct relationship with Kraken to access these services.

This model could give Payward a distribution channel that doesn't rely on drawing customers directly to its exchange. Partner Hyperliquid is already working with Payward Services, the division providing these services. Payward's past acquisitions, including NinjaTrader for $1.5 billion and Bitnomial for $550 million, are part of this strategy.

The company has also secured a $100 million investment from Nasdaq to support its tokenized stock products initiative. This partnership aims to launch in the second quarter of 2027, with Payward providing distribution, trading, and post-trade infrastructure. Co-CEO Sethi emphasized that Payward does not depend on an IPO to fund its investments.