Kraken's Parent Company Acquires Stablecoin Payments Firm Reap for $600M

Payward Inc., the parent company of U.S. crypto exchange Kraken, has agreed to acquire Reap Technologies — a stablecoin-native card issuing and payments infrastructure company — for up to $600 million in cash and stock.

The deal, which values Payward at $20 billion, is expected to close in the second half of 2026, pending regulatory approval.

According to the announcement, the acquisition expands Payward Services, the company's B2B infrastructure platform, adding card issuance, cross-border payments, and stablecoin treasury services to its existing suite of crypto trading, custody, and derivatives offerings.

Within the Payward ecosystem, Reap will continue operating as a standalone platform under its existing brand and leadership, the announcement notes.

"Reap is the payments layer for what comes next. Card networks, banking rails, and blockchains on a single API, settling in stablecoins,” said Payward co-CEO Arjun Sethi. Reap CEO and co-founder Daren Guo noted the company nearly tripled revenue and volumes in 2025, and expanded its regulated business from Asia to South America.

The deal is the latest in a string of aggressive moves by Payward. Last month, the company closed its $550 million acquisition of CFTC-licensed derivatives exchange Bitnomial. Rival Coinbase has also been active in M&As, acquiring options giant Deribit for $2.9 billion last year, one of the largest crypto M&A deals on record.

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