Kraken Parent’s Profit Rebound Still Leaves a Wide Gap Before Its IPO

Kraken parent Payward said clients kept adding assets for 12 straight months, even as those holdings lost dollar value. Its adjusted earnings rose to $60 million in the third quarter, up from $23 million in the second.

However, that was still 67% below a year earlier, Bloomberg reported, citing a shareholder letter. These are its first results since Nasdaq agreed to a $100 million investment at a reported $21 billion valuation.

Kraken Parent’s Client Assets Grew While Their Dollar Value Fell

Payward published its third-quarter figures on November 13. Average assets on platform fell 21% from a year earlier to $43 billion.

At constant asset prices, client assets rose 29% year over year to $71 billion.

The gap between those two numbers shows how much lower prices cut the dollar value of client holdings.

Meanwhile, funded accounts grew 37% to 7.1 million over the same period.

Those holdings also feed a growing part of Payward’s income.

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Profit Rebounds Under a New Scorecard

Payward’s earnings release also changed how it keeps score. Total Platform Margin (TPM) now replaces adjusted revenue as its main measure.

TPM strips out trading costs and staking rewards paid to clients. It reached $487 million, up 12% from the second quarter but down 12% year over year.

Margin from assets clients hold rose 26% quarter over quarter to $128 million.

Payward also took a bigger slice of spot trading. Its share of industry spot volume rose to 6.5% in September, from 3.3% a year earlier.

Payward said its total platform volume rose 22% from the second quarter. Industry spot volume fell 7% over the same period, per CoinMarketCap data.

Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) hit $60 million.

That marks a rebound from Payward’s second-quarter slump, when the figure stood at $23 million.

Citing a shareholder letter, Bloomberg reported that the figure fell 67% from a year earlier.

Where the Kraken IPO Stands After the Rebound

These figures arrive with no date set for Payward’s listing. It filed confidentially for a US IPO in November 2025 and reportedly paused the process in March.

BeInCrypto reported in September that the Kraken IPO now targets the second quarter of 2027 at the earliest. Nasdaq agreed in September to a $100 million Payward investment, at a $21 billion valuation.

Payward’s third-quarter release does not mention the listing. The fourth-quarter numbers will show whether the profit rebound can carry into 2027.

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