Payward’s adjusted EBITDA fell 66% year over year to $60 million, even as its share of global spot trading nearly doubled and fee-based services expanded.
Kraken’s parent company Payward nearly doubled its share of global crypto spot trading to 6.5% in September from 3.3% a year earlier, even as weaker trading activity weighed on its earnings.
The market-share gain means Payward captured a larger portion of spot trading relative to competitors, rather than an increase in trading activity across its platforms. The company handled $353 billion in transactions in the third quarter, down 30% from a year earlier, according to financial results released Friday.
The two figures measure different things. The market share tracks its portion of global spot trading across its platforms in September, compared with a year earlier, while Payward’s quarterly transaction volume includes activity across multiple products, including spot, margin, equities, payments and certain derivatives.
Adjusted EBITDA fell to $60 million from the $178.6 million reported a year earlier. Total platform margin fell 12% to $487 million. Payward introduced that measure this quarter to replace adjusted revenue, adding a deduction for staking rewards paid to customers.
Acquisitions expand Payward beyond spot trading
Payward has spent the past two years expanding beyond its core cryptocurrency exchange business through acquisitions in derivatives, proprietary trading, tokenized assets and payments. The strategy aims to diversify revenue beyond transaction fees, which fluctuate with market activity.
Its purchases include futures broker NinjaTrader and proprietary trading firm Breakout in 2025, followed by the acquisition of US-regulated derivatives platform Bitnomial in May 2026. The company also expanded into stablecoin payments with its purchase of Reap in July.
Those businesses contributed to a broader mix of trading and service-based activity in the third quarter. The number of derivatives contracts on which Payward charges a per-contract fee rose 84% to 66 million. Margin from subscriptions, trader evaluations and other paid services rose 59% to $125 million.
Breakout, which charges traders for evaluations that can qualify them for funded trading accounts, was included for the full quarter after joining in September 2025. The July purchase of Reap added a stablecoin payments and card-issuing business. The company did not quantify either acquisition’s contribution to the quarter.
Related: Kraken parent Payward acquires Magic Labs’ wallet business
Earnings recover from second-quarter lows
Results improved from the second quarter despite remaining below year-earlier levels. Total transaction volume rose 22%, while total platform margin increased 12% to $487 million from $436 million.
The improvement was not driven by trading alone. Margin earned from assets customers hold on Payward’s platforms, including staking-related services, rose 26% to $128 million. That accounted for roughly half of the $51 million quarterly increase in total platform margin.
Adjusted EBITDA climbed to $60 million from $23 million, while its margin relative to total platform margin rose to 12% from 5%. Compared with a year earlier, however, adjusted EBITDA was down 66%, underscoring the pressure on profitability despite a growing contribution from services less directly tied to trading activity. Asset- and access-based services accounted for 52% of total platform margin, up from 46% a year earlier.
That shift could matter for an eventual public listing. Payward confidentially filed for a US IPO in November 2025 but paused its plans in March as market conditions weakened. By September, the earliest potential listing window under consideration was the second quarter of 2027.
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