Kraken's parent company Payward Q3 financial report: total revenue 487 million USD, a year-on-year decrease of 12%

According to Bloomberg, Kraken's parent company Payward reported an adjusted EBITDA of $60 million for the third quarter, a 67% year-over-year decline, but a 163% increase compared to the second quarter. The platform's total revenue was $487 million, a 12% year-over-year decline, but a 12% increase quarter-over-quarter; the platform's total trading volume decreased by 30% year-over-year to $353 billion.

While trading volume declined, the number of funded accounts at Payward increased by 37% year-over-year to 7.1 million, defined as accounts with a balance greater than zero. Bitcoin surged about 40% from mid-August to early October, but subsequently fell again due to concerns about inflation and the impact of the U.S. midterm elections on the industry. Trading fees are a major source of revenue for many cryptocurrency trading platforms, and falling coin prices often suppress trading activity.

To broaden its revenue sources, Payward is expanding its stock tokenization business and plans to offer on-chain perpetual contracts to U.S. customers after obtaining regulatory approval. The company reached an agreement to acquire Saldo Bank in October; Kraken also plans to enter the UAE market after receiving full approval from Dubai regulators. The shareholder letter also disclosed that Payward plans to enter the prediction market and issue its own token, but no timeline was provided.

Earlier this year, Payward laid off about 150 employees under the pretext of using AI to improve efficiency. According to previous reports from Bloomberg, its IPO may not occur until 2027. The performance of other exchanges has also shown divergence: Gemini's revenue in the third quarter decreased by 19% year-over-year, but losses narrowed; Coinbase's revenue decreased by 35% year-over-year, but it returned to profitability.