Kraken owner Payward reports platform margin of $487 million in third quarter, down 12% year on year
Key Facts
Payward, the owner of the Kraken platform, said in a financial update published on November 13, 2026, that total platform margin reached $487 million in the third quarter, down 12% from the same period last year but up 12% from the second quarter. The company said it is replacing adjusted revenue with total platform margin, which deducts crypto trading costs and staking rewards paid to customers. The new metric was $436 million in the second quarter, according to the company. Adjusted EBITDA reached $60 million in the period, compared with $23 million in the second quarter. Adjusted EBITDA margin rose to 12% of total platform margin, from 5% in the previous quarter.
The components of total platform margin varied during the quarter, with transaction-based margin rising 7% quarter on quarter to $234 million. Asset-based margin increased 26% to $128 million, while access-based margin rose 7% to $125 million. Payward said asset- and access-based margin together accounted for 52% of the total, compared with 50% in the second quarter and 46% in the third quarter of 2025. Access margin, the company’s newest category, grew 59% year on year. This reflects a broader contribution from categories not directly tied to transactions in the margin mix reported by the company.
Total transaction volume on Payward’s platforms was $353 billion, up 22% from the second quarter but still 30% below its level in the third quarter of 2025. The company said it grew while industry spot trading volume fell 7% from the previous quarter. Its share of industry spot trading volume rose to 6.5% in September 2026, from 3.3% in September 2025. The platform recorded 66 million contracts traded, up 10% quarter on quarter and 84% year on year. The company said more customers are trading futures and derivatives, diversifying transaction margin beyond fees tied to notional value.
Average assets on the platform were $43 billion in the third quarter, up 4% from the previous quarter and down 21% from the same period in 2025. Assets measured at constant prices, however, rose 29% year on year to $71 billion. Paid accounts reached 1.5 million, up 9% quarter on quarter and 74% year on year. Funded accounts also rose to 7.1 million, up 7% from the second quarter and 37% from the third quarter of last year. Payward also said it completed its latest quarterly proof of reserves as of September 30, 2026, and that accounting firm The Network Firm verified the report.
The third-quarter results follow Payward’s announcement on August 14 that adjusted revenue reached $508 million in the second quarter, up 17% year on year. That metric differs from total platform margin, which the company adopted in its latest update; it now presents a measure that deducts crypto trading costs and staking rewards. Looking ahead, Payward said it expects to make its first intelligent agent interfaces available in its apps in early 2027, followed by prediction markets for U.S. customers. The company also plans to move U.S. dollar transfers to its main account at the Federal Reserve and, in Europe, to hold customer deposits on its balance sheet and use them to fund lending. On geographic expansion, Kraken plans to launch services in the UAE after receiving full approval from Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority, while Payward has received preliminary approval from AFSA to expand in Kazakhstan.