Crypto exchange Kraken’s parent Payward has seen a rise in revenue for the first quarter of 2026, with a potential IPO lying at the back of the firm.
The firm reported a revenue of $507 million on Monday, marking a 3 percent hike for the first quarter of 2026 helped by the rise of crypto infrastructure.
That coupled with the firm’s expansion beyond spot crypto trading during a volatile crypto market helped the firm offset harsh market conditions. The Wyoming-headquartered firm also attributes the increase in revenue to the growth of futures trading and surge in newer business lines.
The Kraken parent’s uptick in revenue comes against the backdrop of the firm announcing a job cut just a week ago. As The Coin Headlines reported earlier, Payward has slashed nearly 5 percent of its workforce in a second round of layoffs.
Further, Payward has also closed a fresh capital raise at its infamous $20 billion valuation on May 11, as the company steps up its spending on acquisitions and prepares more actively for a potential future public listing.
Elsewhere, Pump.fun moved 82,703 SOL worth nearly $7 million from its Solana memecoin launchpad treasury to Kraken in a large single-wallet CEX deposit. Such crypto exchange inflows can be a sign of potential sell pressure or OTC/custody activity.
Other metrics pick pace as well
Payward in its official release also said that trading activity in its futures business saw strong growth during the first quarter, with Futures DARTs, or daily average revenue trades, jumping 51 percent compared with the same period last year.
The growth was mainly attributable to expansion in the derivatives business of the firm, which involved acquisition of NinjaTrader, and momentum from Breakout platform, in addition to increased effort to expand into futures and derivatives products for traders.
The firm posted an adjusted EBITDA of $18 million during the quarter. Although there were issues with profitability, Payward attributed the decline to its strategy of not scaling down its investment efforts amid the current market downturns.
On the crypto exchange side, Kraken continued gaining market share despite weaker trading conditions. Its spot trading share increased from roughly 3.5 percent in mid-2025 to a peak of 5.2 percent in March 2026.
Payward also said it managed to retain 59 percent of its spot trading volume from the December 2024 market peak, more than double the roughly 27 percent retention rate reported by some of its largest competitors during the same period.
The firm commented, “We believe the recovery ahead will reward platforms with the infrastructure, trust, and diversification to serve clients at scale. That is the platform we have been building and will continue to invest in for the long term.”
Payward IPO: latest developments
Payward has made a private filing of an S-1 registration statement with the SEC on November 19, 2025. The filing marked the beginning of the process that could lead to a possible public listing of the company.
Nevertheless, even though Payward has already filed its S-1 form, previously published sources claimed that the company chose to postpone its IPO due to poor market conditions in March. A slump in overall crypto trading had resulted in investor appetite for crypto-related listings cooling.
Even so, people familiar with the matter have continued to say that an eventual public debut remains very much on the table if broader market sentiment improves.
Speaking during the Consensus conference in Miami, Co-CEO Arjun Sethi said the company is now “80 percent ready” for an IPO, adding that most of the internal preparation work required for a listing has already been completed.
Over time, Kraken’s parent company has evolved from being primarily a spot crypto trading platform into a much broader financial ecosystem. At present the platform offers derivatives, staking, custody and other digital asset services. Institutional interest in the company has also continued growing ahead of a possible IPO.
The company also secured roughly $800 million from investors including Jane Street, DRW Venture Capital and Tribe Capital in late 2024. A later investment from Citadel Securities reportedly valued the company at approximately $20 billion.