Kraken parent Payward reports $2.2 billion adjusted 2025 revenue as business diversifies through acquisitions, investments

Kraken parent company Payward reported $2.2 billion in adjusted revenue in 2025, a 33% year-over-year increase, according to a blog published by Kraken co-CEO Arjun Sethi on Tuesday. 

This growth was “driven by broad-based performance across trading and asset-based businesses,” the report said. According to the post, Payward derived about 47% of its revenue from trading operations and the remaining 53% from its growing list of other services, like custody and payments.

“Trading revenue was supported by deep liquidity and sustained engagement, while asset-based revenue scaled with assets on platform through custody, yield, payments, and financing,” Sethi wrote, noting total platform transaction volume reached $2 trillion, up 34% year-over-year.

Sethi’s report comes amid heightened speculation that the private crypto exchange could go public. Last week, the Kraken-backed special purpose acquisition company KRAKacquisition Corp listed on Nasdaq, raising $345 million via an initial public offering.

That came on the heels of a $200 million strategic investment from Citadel Securities in November, pushing Kraken to a $20 billion post-money valuation as it developed its SPAC strategy.

Acquisition strategy

Kraken, one of the longest-operating U.S.-based exchanges, expanded widely in 2025 through investments, acquisitions, and strategic developments. 

Its $1.5 billion acquisition of TradFi derivatives platform NinjaTrader, and later acquisition of crypto-native proprietary trading firm Breakout, among other purchases, powered the firm’s expansion deeper into multi-asset and prop trading. A deal to acquire Backed, a significant player in the tokenized equities space via xStocks, closed last month. 

Kraken also rolled out its Krak app in June, aiming to compete with Venmo and PayPal by offering free local and international payments, which introduced a cashback debit card, salary deposit, and expanded wealth tool in November. 

The exchange has also made significant inroads in derivatives trading in Europe and the UK, while its U.S. derivatives platform is now offering a suite of CME Group derivatives contracts “from equity indices to energy, metals, FX, and more.” 

“The company’s strategy is not driven by adding standalone products or chasing short-term cycles. It is driven by compounding efficiency across a single system,” Sethi wrote, adding that Payward will redouble focus on three growth vectors, its multi-asset offerings including tokenized stocks, its custody, yield, and financing operations, as well as continued global expansion. 

Unifying Payward

“Looking forward, Payward’s focus is not on maximizing any single metric in isolation,” Sethi said. “It is on maximizing long-run, risk-adjusted throughput across a growing set of asset classes and geographies. The financial results in 2025 reflect the early stages of this compounding model. The years ahead are about scaling it responsibly.”

Sethi added that Payward helps unify Kraken’s diverse operations. “Once the infrastructure is built, the marginal cost of launching and operating additional products approaches zero relative to the value they add,” he said.

The blank-check KRAKacquisition company was also sponsored by Natural Capital and Tribe Capital, where Sethi was hired from.