The parent company behind a portfolio built for modern markets

Payward, Inc. is a unified financial infrastructure platform that powers a family of products advancing an open, global financial system. Built on a single shared architecture, Payward enables customers to hold, trade, earn, pay, and invest across asset classes without friction or fragmentation.

At its core, Payward provides the infrastructure layer behind Kraken and a growing set of purpose-built products, including NinjaTrader, Breakout, xStocks, and CF Benchmarks.

Payward separates infrastructure from product expression. Each product surface is designed for a specific customer segment, regulatory regime, and use case, while operating on the same global foundation:

One global liquidity pool
One unified risk and margin engine
One collateral and settlement system
One compliance and licensing framework

This shared architecture allows Payward to scale efficiently, launch new products at low marginal cost, and serve diverse global markets while maintaining consistent risk management, regulatory integrity, and operational resilience.

Our story

Timeline

Mission and values

Global presence

What we build

Open, programmable rails — vertically integrated

Our platform architecture runs nodes and pools liquidity across assets, geographies, and time zones. It began as a high-performance venue for professional traders and evolved into a unified platform for trading, custody, yield, payments, and lending.

Key capabilities

24/7 multi-asset trading
Instant settlement
On-demand leverage
Direct access to global counterparties

Who we serve

Built for distinct customer needs — without splitting the stack

The portfolio supports multiple customer groups through specialized interfaces, all running on a shared foundation.

Customer groups

Consumers: everyday investors, crypto newcomers, long-term holders
Pro traders: algo traders, arbitrageurs
Institutional: family offices, trading firms, asset allocators
Enterprise: neobanks, retail banks, brokerages, and payroll and payment providers

Scale signals

Infrastructure and interface

Payward’s platform growth is reflected in the expanding number of interfaces, product launches, and cross-asset participation.

16 interfaces
$10B+ xStocks volume within the first 6 months
9 products launched in 2025

From a pro trader exchange to a multi-asset platform on crypto rails

Kraken was built for professional traders as a high-performance exchange. Over time, that foundation evolved into a vertically integrated platform supporting both digital and traditional assets.

The founding focus

Performance, precision, and reliability

The earliest focus was building a high-performance exchange for professional traders—solving core pain points with 24/7 markets, instant settlement, on-demand leverage, and direct access to global counterparties through precise, intuitive interfaces.

The evolution

Vertical integration, maintaining rigor

The platform expanded from trading into a unified system spanning custody, yield, payments, and lending. Customers can trade, stake, hedge, and custody both digital and traditional assets through interfaces built for different workflows.

Platform vision

Infrastructure that connects crypto and traditional markets

The architecture runs nodes and pools liquidity across assets, geographies, and time zones—supporting an interoperable platform that connects crypto, tokenized assets, and traditional markets.

Key milestones

A concise timeline of foundational events and platform evolution.

2008

Bitcoin is introduced to the world with the release of the Bitcoin whitepaper.

2011

Jesse Powell is brought in to help Mt. Gox recover from a security attack and later co-founds Kraken in July 2011.

2014

Kraken becomes the first exchange to announce a verifiable cryptographic Proof of Reserves audit, and the first to provide complete Bitcoin market data to the Bloomberg Terminal.

2015

Kraken becomes the first exchange to offer both crypto spot and futures on one platform, and the first platform to list Ethereum’s native token (ETH).

2019

Kraken receives the first SPDI digital asset bank charter in Wyoming.

2020

Kraken becomes the first crypto facility to receive a UK Multilateral Trading Facility (MTF) license.

Today

Kraken accelerates its vision for a borderless, always-on trading environment, including:

The acquisition of NinjaTrader  (described as the largest TradFi + crypto deal to date)
Doubling the number of interfaces and products from 2024
Launching 11,000+ stocks and ETFs and introducing xStocks
Closing an $800M funding round led by Citadel, Jane Street, Oppenheimer, and Tribe Capital

Principles that shape how we build

Payward is designed to move fast without cutting corners—measuring success through trust, quality, and durable outcomes.

Stablecoins

The settlement layer of digital assets. Clear, globally aligned frameworks are essential to unlock their full potential.

Trust is the unit of output

Teams ship fast without compromising security, compliance, or quality.

Outcomes over optics

Decision-making stays close to the work; small teams own results.

Write it down, then move

Writing is the default because clarity scales.

No ordinary work

The mission demands meaningful work—often difficult, often uncomfortable.

Testing is a requirement

If we build it, we use it; we learn products deeply and study competitors.

Radical transparency

Direct communication and healthy disagreement are expected when paired with good intent and focus on team outcomes.

Invest in people

Competitive pay, meaningful equity, growth paths, mobility, wellness, and coaching.

Proud, never satisfied

The mission demands more—and so do we.

Global presence

Payward is available in most major jurisdictions.

Global operations

Built to scale globally while adapting locally

The platform operates in more than 190 jurisdictions worldwide and is designed to support localization across rails, regulations, and customer needs—without fragmenting the core platform.

Regulatory footprint

One of the most comprehensive global frameworks in the industry

With 100+ licenses and registrations worldwide, the portfolio supports regulated trading, custody, and fiat rails across North America, Europe, the UK, Australia, and key emerging markets.

Jurisdictions & example registrations

United States

Designated Contract Market; Futures Commission Merchant; Money Services Business; Money Transmitter Licenses; Registered Broker-Dealer; Registered Investment Adviser; Special Purpose Depository Institution (state bank charter)

Canada

Money Services Business; Restricted Dealer & Exempt Marketplace

Bermuda

Digital Asset Business License

United Kingdom

Benchmark Administrator; E-Money Institution; Multilateral Trading Facility; Registered Crypto Asset Business

European Union / EEA

Crypto-Asset Service Provider (MiCA); E-Money Institution; MiFID License

Latin America

Anti-Money Laundering License (Argentina); Virtual Asset Service Provider (Argentina)

Australia

Financial Services License; Registered Digital Currency Exchange; Registered Financial Advisory

About Payward

Payward, Inc. is a collection of companies powering the open financial system.

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