Kraken parent Payward posts 67% drop in Q3 adjusted earnings

What happened

Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, reported $60 million in third-quarter adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, a 67% decline from roughly $182 million a year earlier. Crypto.news reported the figure from a shareholder letter reviewed by Bloomberg News, and Bitcoinist also covered the results on Nov. 13. The decline came as weaker cryptocurrency trading activity weighed on performance, with total platform transaction volume falling 30% to $353 billion.

Total platform margin, the measure Payward now uses instead of adjusted revenue, fell 12% year over year to $487 million. According to Bitcoinist, the metric deducts trading costs and staking rewards paid to customers. The reports said lower trading volumes pressured transaction-fee revenue across the exchange sector.

The year-over-year contraction did not tell the full story. Payward's adjusted earnings rose 163% from the second quarter, and total platform margin increased 12% sequentially, according to the reports. Funded accounts, described as customers with a balance above zero, grew 37% year over year to 7.1 million. The company reported an improvement from Q2, when adjusted EBITDA was considerably lower.

Why it matters

Payward's results illustrate the revenue pressure facing crypto exchanges when trading slows. Coinbase reported a 35% year-over-year decline in third-quarter revenue but returned to profitability, while Gemini recorded a 19% revenue drop and narrowed its losses, according to the reports. Bitcoinist also reported a 73% fall in Gemini's trading volumes. For Payward, the mix is shifting: income linked to client assets and access to products, data and services accounted for 52% of total platform margin in the quarter, up from 46% a year earlier, Bitcoinist reported.

Crypto.news noted that bitcoin rallied about 40% between mid-August and early October before reversing course, and recently fell below $70,000 as concerns over inflation, higher bond yields and the US midterm elections weighed on investor sentiment. Lower trading activity has affected exchanges that depend heavily on transaction fees. Payward's diversification may soften the effect of weaker trading, but the annual decline shows the core exchange business remains sensitive to market activity.

What the data shows

Key third-quarter figures reported: adjusted EBITDA of $60 million, down from about $182 million a year earlier; total platform margin of $487 million, down 12% year over year but up 12% from Q2; total platform transaction volume of $353 billion, down 30% year over year; funded accounts of 7.1 million, up 37%; adjusted earnings up 163% quarter over quarter. Bitcoinist reported that client-asset and product/data/services income made up 52% of platform margin, compared with 46% a year earlier.

Background

Payward has been building businesses beyond spot crypto trading. Earlier in the week, it added more than 200 tokenized stocks from UK and European markets, including companies on the FTSE 100 and Germany's DAX 40, bringing its xStocks ecosystem to more than 1,500 assets. The company said xStocks had over $1.1 billion in assets under management and cumulative transaction volume above $45 billion. In October, Payward agreed to acquire Saldo Finance Oy, the Finnish parent of Lithuania-licensed Saldo Bank, in a deal expected to close in 2027 subject to regulatory approval. It also obtained full approval from Dubai's Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority and plans to offer crypto trading and other financial services in the UAE, including local currency deposits and withdrawals.

Payward is also preparing onchain perpetual futures for US customers, subject to regulatory approval, and disclosed plans to eventually enter prediction markets and launch its own token without providing a timeline or tokenomics. Its long-awaited IPO may be delayed until at least the second quarter of 2027, after market conditions disrupted earlier plans. Payward confidentially submitted a draft registration statement to the SEC in November 2025 and previously raised $800 million at a $20 billion valuation. Earlier this year it cut about 150 jobs, citing efficiency gains from artificial intelligence.

What to watch

Several items remain unresolved. Payward has not said when prediction markets or its planned token might launch, nor has it detailed how either would work. The Saldo Bank acquisition is expected to close in 2027 pending approval, and the US onchain perpetual futures offering depends on regulatory clearance. The IPO timing is also uncertain after reports that it could slip to at least Q2 2027. Separately, Bitcoinist reported that a Payward-affiliated fund and clients bought an undisclosed amount of AAVE tokens in November, and that Payward held talks with Wells Fargo and BNY about possible partnerships; the reports said those discussions did not necessarily mean formal agreements had been reached.

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