Payward’s $60M profit rebound contrasts with lower platform volume

By Marcus Bennett

Payward Inc., the company behind the Kraken crypto exchange, reported $60 million in adjusted EBITDA for Q3 2026, up 163% from $23 million in Q2, according to a shareholder letter dated November 13, 2026.

That marked a sharp rebound from the second quarter. It did not erase a weaker year. The same measure was down 67% from the year-earlier quarter. The letter gave investors a rare look inside one of crypto’s largest privately held exchanges.

• Adjusted EBITDA: $60 million, up 163% quarter over quarter from $23 million and down 67% year over year.
• Total Platform Margin: $487 million, up 12% quarter over quarter and down 12% year over year.
• Platform volume: $353 billion, down 30% year over year.
• Funded accounts: 7.1 million, up 37% year over year. These are accounts holding a positive balance.

What does this change for Kraken’s revenue?

The report framed the tension directly: “The quarter-over-quarter recovery is real. So is the year-over-year decline.”

Taken together, the figures suggest users keep balances on Kraken even when they trade less, which supports a broader services strategy but does not guarantee that fee revenue will strengthen when market activity stays subdued.

Payward appears to be reading that signal. The company is pushing into products that do not depend solely on trading fees. Its list includes tokenized equities and on-chain perpetual contracts for U.S. users. It also plans to enter prediction markets. And it has signaled an intention to issue its own token at some point.

What changes beyond the trading desk?

Europe offers a more concrete step. In October 2026, Payward agreed to acquire Saldo Bank, an EU-licensed lender. The planned deal would broaden the services Kraken can offer across the region. It still needs to close.

For U.S. customers, tokenized equities and on-chain perpetual contracts remain outside Kraken’s menu pending regulatory approval, so neither offering can contribute to American operations until regulators clear the launches.

Approval would open new revenue channels. Rejection or delay would leave the expansion plans unfinished.

Payward also changed its cost base earlier in 2026. It cut approximately 150 staff members as part of a restructuring. The company attributed those reductions to efficiencies from AI implementations. Those cuts put automation at the center of the restructuring narrative, even as lower trading volume complicated the quarter’s operating picture.

When could the IPO happen?

Talk of a Payward IPO by the end of 2026 has circulated. Indications suggest the listing may now slip into 2027. The earlier date remains part of the public conversation, while the later date has gained support. That range matters for investors deciding whether to treat Payward as a near-term public-market story or a longer-dated one.

Several growth bets still depend on outside decisions, and because the shareholder letter gives no token launch date, the U.S. product launches need regulatory clearance and the Saldo Bank acquisition still has to close.

Those dependencies define the distance between Payward’s operating ambitions and investor expectations around a listing.

What should investors watch next?

Three tests come first. Q4 must show whether the sequential profit recovery extends. Platform volume must show whether it stabilizes. U.S. regulators must decide whether to clear tokenized equities and on-chain perpetual contracts.

The next checkpoint is Payward’s Q4 2026 results, which will test whether the profit rebound holds as the company awaits U.S. product approvals and considers an IPO that could slip into 2027.