Kraken parent Payward sees revenue surge as tokenization expands

Payward, Kraken’s parent, reported $507 million in adjusted Q1 revenue driven by a 51% year‑over‑year rise in futures trading as the firm expands tokenization, derivatives and stablecoin payments. Assets on platform rose 11% to $40 billion and funded accounts increased 47% to 6.1 million. Payward closed acquisitions including Bitnomial, Backed and Magna, struck a deal to buy Reap (up to $600M), and expanded xStocks to 100 tokenized equities with a plan for 500 by end‑2026. Bitnomial’s CFTC licenses enable regulated U.S. crypto derivatives activity, while Reap is expected to grow stablecoin card and payments use across regions. The company also launched B2B API services and formed partnerships with Nasdaq and Deutsche Börse’s 360X. While the report underscores strong revenue and product diversification that could boost institutional adoption and positive sentiment for crypto markets (notably Bitcoin), the article also notes industry job cuts and a ~150‑person layoff at Kraken, a factor that tempers the outlook.