Kraken parent company Payward announced $60 million in adjusted EBITDA for the third quarter on Friday, improving from $23 million during the second quarter while dropping roughly two-thirds compared to the $178.6 million generated in the same period last year.
Instead of adjusted revenue, Payward has adopted a metric named “total platform margin,” which additionally subtracts staking payouts delivered to users. Based on the private firm’s financial highlights published on Friday, total platform margin climbed to $487 million in Q3 compared to $436 million in Q2, though it decreased by 12% on an annual basis.
Traders executed $353 billion in transactions across the ecosystems operated by Payward throughout the quarter, showing a 30% volume decline from the previous year alongside a 22% increase over the second quarter.
Payward reported finishing September holding 7.1 million funded profiles, marking a 7% quarterly rise and a 37% year-over-year expansion. Active billable accounts reached 1.5 million, reflecting a 9% bump from Q2 and a 74% jump compared to the prior year.
US prediction markets and AI plans
Payward indicated that prediction markets tailored for American users form part of the upcoming offerings on its development agenda. Mark Greenberg, the Chief Commercial Officer at Payward, previously addressed a possible rollout during a CNBC appearance last December, although Friday’s report omitted any specific release window.
Payward additionally intends to introduce stock perpetual futures via its designated CFTC-regulated trading platform, clearinghouse, and broker, create localized applications, and enable users to share collateral across various products within a single profile. Additional goals involve settling U.S. dollar wire transfers through its Federal Reserve master account, trialing a domestic credit card, and utilizing customer funds to back lending operations in Europe.
On Wednesday, Payward integrated more than 200 tokenized UK and European equities into its xStocks selection. Within the Friday update, the company mentioned it is currently designing investment funds structured around xStocks, which crossed $1 billion in AUM during October, alongside plans to launch xPO to allow private companies to secure funding through onchain share issuance, pending regulatory clearance.
RWA stocks market cap by platform. Image: The Block.
Artificial intelligence is also taking a larger role across operations, with Kraken AI currently active inside the domestic mobile application—allowing users to buy, sell, swap, and stake assets using conversational chat while confirming transactions—alongside a built-in assistant and strategy builder on Kraken Pro. Moving forward, Payward is designing an independent AI agent dedicated to personal finance, operating inside user-defined boundaries where clients must explicitly authorize every trade or automated workflow prior to execution.
Originally published at https://www.theblock.co/news/business/2026-11-13-kraken-parent-payward-posts-66-drop-in-q3-adjusted-ebitda-plans-us-prediction-markets-and-personal-finance-ai-agent-439721.
