Payward, the owner of the Kraken exchange, reported its financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2026.
Adjusted revenue came in at $508 million—a 17% increase year over year. Adjusted EBITDA remained positive at $23 million. Total trading volume on the platform declined by 13% year over year to $310 billion, reflecting an industry-wide drop in spot cryptocurrency volumes. However, the share of derivatives, stocks, and tokenized stocks grew—marking the third consecutive quarter of increasing market share in the spot segment.
Clients’ assets on the platform totaled $40 billion. In real terms (excluding changes in asset prices), this figure rose by 48% year over year to $65 billion. The number of funded accounts increased by 42% to 6.6 million—particularly strong growth was seen in European Economic Area countries following the issuance of a MiCA license. The number of futures transactions rose by 8%. Revenue from asset custody fees and other non-core sources reached 60%, up from 55% a year earlier.
In May, the company reduced costs while maintaining funding for priority growth areas.
Key Events of the Quarter
- The first CFTC-regulated spot margin trading and perpetual futures for retail clients in the U.S. were launched on the Bitnomial infrastructure; the Kraken Prop proprietary trading program and perpetual stock futures for pre-IPO companies outside the U.S. were introduced.
- The Flexline crypto-backed lending line was launched, available to U.S. clients in June; the Krak virtual IBAN service and the salary co-financing program (1%) were expanded to an additional 11 European markets.
- Retail clients worldwide gained access to tokenized pre-IPO shares—from SpaceX and Bending Spoons onward; Bitcoin Vaults were launched on Krak.
- The first external partner was connected to the unified Payward Services API; the DeFi product Earn Bitcoin Vault attracted about $400 million; tokenized xStocks became available on BNB Chain, Mantle, and Bitget Wallet, with OKX joining in July. Payward invested $20 million in the Series A round of Onyx Odds prediction markets, operating on the company’s regulated derivatives infrastructure in the U.S.
- Deals were closed for the acquisition of Bitnomial (May 1, completing the formation of a CFTC-regulated derivatives stack) and Reap, a payment and stablecoin-based card issuing platform (July 1). On July 27, an agreement was announced to acquire the digital wallet infrastructure business Magic Labs.
- Partnerships were signed with MoneyGram (cryptocurrency-to-cash conversion), Franklin Templeton (asset tokenization, including seven ETFs via xStocks), and Tempo (payments and stablecoin infrastructure). Kraken became an official partner of the FIFA World Cup 2026 in the crypto exchange category.
- Pre-approval was received from Dubai’s VARA regulator for a broker-dealer and asset management license; VASP status was registered in the British Virgin Islands; in May, an application was filed for a federal trust license from the OCC in the U.S.
Payward also conducted another quarterly Proof of Reserves as of June 30, 2026, audited by the independent auditing firm The Network Firm.