Kraken parent Payward posts $2.2B adjusted revenue in 2025 and accelerates multi-asset expansion

Payward closed 2025 with materially stronger top-line performance, signaling that Kraken’s broader push beyond spot trading is gaining commercial traction. Adjusted revenue rose to $2.2 billion, a one-third increase from the prior year, supported by balanced contributions from trading and a growing set of asset-based businesses such as custody, payments and yield products. Transaction activity on the platform expanded in step with revenue, with flows reaching the low-trillion-dollar range and posting mid-30s percentage growth year-over-year. Management has deployed a mix of strategic investments and acquisitions to seed capability in derivatives, tokenized equities and proprietary trading, backing those moves with sizable purchases and minority investments. Simultaneously, the firm launched consumer-facing payment features and a cashback debit product aimed at broadening retail engagement and building alternative revenue streams. Financial backing and a SPAC vehicle have provided capital optionality: the associated blank-check company listed on Nasdaq and earlier large strategic funding helped underpin a reported $20 billion post-money valuation. The operating thesis is explicitly network-driven — build shared infrastructure, then layer new products at marginal incremental cost to exploit cross-selling and scale economics. That approach reduces the need to optimize single metrics in isolation and places emphasis on long-run, risk-adjusted throughput across asset classes and geographies. Regulatory and execution risks remain meaningful as the company moves into derivatives and tokenized securities across multiple jurisdictions, and integrating large acquisitions will test governance and systems resiliency. Still, the results show revenue diversification is working in practice, not just in pitch decks, and the balance of capital markets and consumer plays gives management multiple levers to monetise growth. For investors and competitors, the signal is clear: Kraken is positioning itself as a multi-asset platform rather than a pure crypto exchange, betting on product breadth and operational leverage to justify higher valuations. The near-term priorities will be proving cross-product retention, demonstrating compliant expansion in regulated markets, and extracting efficiency as new business lines scale.