Kraken parent Payward posts 66% drop in Q3 adjusted EBITDA

Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, reported third-quarter adjusted EBITDA of $60 million on Friday, down 66% from $178.6 million a year earlier though up from $23 million in the second quarter, Cointelegraph reported. Total platform transaction volume was $353 billion, 30% below the year-ago quarter and 22% above the second quarter, according to the company's Q3 financial highlights.

Payward nearly doubled its share of global crypto spot trading to 6.5% in September from 3.3% a year earlier, citing CoinMarketCap data in those highlights. The company said it grew while industry spot volume fell 7% from the second quarter. The market-share gain means Payward captured a larger portion of spot trading relative to competitors rather than an increase in activity across its platforms, the report said.

Payward introduced Total Platform Margin this quarter in place of adjusted revenue, deducting the cost of crypto delivered to clients and staking rewards paid out. The figure was $487 million, up 12% from $436 million in the second quarter and down 12% from a year earlier. Transaction-based margin rose 7% quarter on quarter to $234 million, margin earned on assets clients hold rose 26% to $128 million, and access-based margin from subscriptions, trader evaluations, listings and index licences rose 7% to $125 million, the highlights show. Access-based margin grew 59% from the third quarter of 2025. Asset- and access-based income together made up 52% of the total, up from 46% a year earlier.

Derivatives contracts on which Payward charges a per-contract fee rose 84% year on year to 66 million, and funded accounts reached 7.1 million, up 37%, the company said in the highlights. Billable accounts, which pay for trader evaluations, subscriptions, listings and index licences, rose 74% to 1.5 million. Average assets on the platform were $43 billion, down 21% year on year; at constant prices they rose 29% to $71 billion.

The results arrive as Payward pushes beyond spot trading through acquisitions and new products. Purchases include futures broker NinjaTrader and proprietary trading firm Breakout in 2025, US-regulated derivatives platform Bitnomial in May 2026 and stablecoin payments firm Reap in July, Cointelegraph reported, a run of deals meant to diversify revenue beyond transaction fees that fluctuate with market activity. The company did not quantify either acquisition's contribution to the quarter.

Payward listed prediction markets for US clients among its next launches, with no timing given, CoinMarketCap reported. It also plans equity perpetual futures through its own CFTC-regulated exchange, clearinghouse and futures broker, and onchain perpetual futures for US clients starting on Hyperliquid, both subject to regulatory approval, the company's outlook states. AI became a fifth business pillar alongside trading, banking, asset management and Payward Services this quarter, with the first agent tools expected early next year. "Where a language model predicts the next word, ours will predict the next transaction," Payward said in the highlights. The company also plans a personal finance agent designed to act only inside limits the client sets and to require client approval before a trade runs.

Payward's proof of reserves as of Sept. 30 was validated by accounting firm The Network Firm, according to the highlights. Funded accounts are not a count of unique clients, since one client can hold several accounts, the same document notes.

In October, Payward agreed to buy Saldo Bank, an EU-licensed digital bank, with completion subject to regulatory approval, the company said in the highlights. Kraken plans to launch in the United Arab Emirates following full market approval from Dubai's Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority, and Payward received in-principle approval from Kazakhstan's financial services regulator.

xStocks, Payward's tokenized equities business, passed $1 billion in assets under management in October and now offers more than 700 tokenized stocks, the highlights state.

Rivals reported the same pressure. Gemini said this week that its third-quarter trading volume fell 73% from a year earlier, CoinMarketCap reported.

Payward confidentially filed for a US IPO in November 2025 and paused those plans in March as market conditions weakened, Cointelegraph said. By September, the earliest potential listing window under consideration was the second quarter of 2027.