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Payward's Q3 2026 adjusted EBITDA reached $60 million, down about 66% year over year. Q3 trading volume declined about 30% year over year to $353 billion.
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Payward posts $60M EBITDA
Payward, the company behind Kraken, reported $60 million in adjusted EBITDA for the third quarter of 2026, and the figure improved from the second quarter while remaining well below the prior year’s result. Payward said its Total platform margin reached $487 million, up 12% from Q2 but down 12% year over year, and it introduced the measure to replace adjusted revenue in its financial highlights.
Payward also reported that it handled $353 billion in transactions in the third quarter, a 30% drop from a year earlier, while it said funded accounts climbed 37% annually to 7.1 million. Payward’s financial update also showed that billable accounts rose 74% year over year to 1.5 million, and it said the number of derivatives contracts on which it charges a per-contract fee rose 84% to 66 million.
Trading slows, services rise
Payward’s adjusted EBITDA fell 66% year over year to $60 million, even as its share of global crypto spot trading nearly doubled to 6.5% in September from 3.3% a year earlier. Payward said its Total platform margin fell 12% year over year to $487 million, and it attributed the change in reporting to a measure that excludes staking rewards paid to customers.
Payward’s shareholder letter showed that margin earned from assets customers hold on its platforms, including staking-related services, rose 26% to $128 million, and it said that accounted for roughly half of the $51 million quarterly increase in total platform margin. Payward’s results also showed that asset- and access-based services accounted for 52% of total platform margin, up from 46% a year earlier, while adjusted EBITDA climbed to $60 million from $23 million in the second quarter.
Next products and IPO
Payward said it plans to launch prediction markets for US customers and stock perpetual futures through its regulated exchange, clearinghouse and broker, and it also said it plans to issue its own token at some point without a timeline. Payward’s plans for US products remained pending regulatory approval, and Crypto Briefing said US tokenized equities and on-chain perpetuals were not live for American customers yet.
Payward also said it plans to move dollar transfers to its Federal Reserve Master Account and test a US credit card, while it developed an on-chain primary offers xPO subject to regulatory approval. Payward’s IPO plans remained in flux, as Crypto Briefing said Payward confidentially filed for a US IPO in November 2025 but paused its plans in March as market conditions weakened, and it said the earliest potential listing window under consideration was the second quarter of 2027.
