A declining crypto market has affected many companies, including Payward, which cited market conditions as cause for lower revenues than last quarter, but continued to invest in other companies to diversify its future.
Payward, parent company of cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, suffered in the ongoing volatile crypto market as revenue slumped quarter-over-quarter (QoQ) but increased year-over-year (YoY).
Within its 2026 first quarter results, Payward generated $507m, a 3% increase from $493m YoY, but dropped by 19% from the $628m reported in Q4 2025 in what the company labelled as “one of the most challenging quarters the industry has faced since 2022”.
Crypto market prices started to decline towards the end of last year as US President Donald Trump began to impose tariffs on Chinese imports, leading to global uneasiness and immediate selloffs of Bitcoin.
Several other macroeconomic conditions have impacted crypto and digital asset companies’ finances, including Coinbase and Robinhood in their recent Q1 reports.
Payward felt the brunt of the market’s decline as it processed $357bn in total platform transaction volume, a 15% decrease YoY from $422bn in Q1 2025, and a 20% QoQ decrease from $444bn in the previous quarter.
Kraken’s spot volume increased from 3.5% in mid-2025 to a high of 5.2% in March 2026. Payward held 59% of its spot volume in March 2026.
Assets on the platform were $40bn, an 11% YoY increase – or 48% when adjusted to the impact of asset price changes. Funded accounts grew 47% YoY to 6.1 million.
Arjun Sethi, Co-CEO of Payward, said: “Q1 2026 was a quarter of continued execution and investment in growth against a challenging market backdrop, as moderating crypto volatility and elevated geopolitical tensions weighed on markets globally.
“Where others pulled back, we leaned in – because our conviction hasn’t wavered, and we believe the investments we’re making will define our competitive position for years to come.”
Investing against market conditions
Amid the market condition pressures, Payward continued to invest despite Adjusted EBITDA falling sharply.
Adjusted EBITDA for Q1 2026 was $18m, a 79% decrease from $87m in Q4 2025, and a 90% YoY decrease from $186m in Q1 2025.
Payward stated this was the result of a “conscious choice” to keep investing through the quarter despite the market conditions. Payward has completed several mergers & acquisition (M&A) deals, including the acquisition of Backed Finance, Magna, Bitnomial, and the most recent deal being the acquisition of payments infrastructure company Reap for $600m.
Payward has acquired several digital asset and traditional finance companies in the past to help diversify its operations and lean more into payments to capture more customers across varying segments.
“Together, we believe these moves reflect one conviction: the next phase of financial infrastructure will be won by platforms that serve every client segment, across every asset class – expanding access, reducing friction, and unlocking capital efficiency,” said Sethi.
“We’re not optimising for today’s EBITDA. We’re building what we believe wins tomorrow.”
Prior to the release of the quarterly report, Payward reportedly plans to cut 150 jobs as it looks to utilise AI to “automate core operations”.
CoinDesk cited two people with knowledge of the matter, as Payward is using AI to streamline its operations ahead of an anticipated initial public offering (IPO) that was previously paused in March.
The company is also interested in raising additional capital against a $20bn valuation before any potential public listing.
