kraken-parent-payward-to-acquire-hong-kong-stablecoin-firm-reap-for-600-million
Kraken parent Payward to acquire Hong Kong stablecoin firm Reap for $600 million
Payward, Kraken’s parent company, agreed to acquire Hong Kong-based stablecoin payments firm Reap Technologies for $600 million in cash and stock — its first infrastructure acquisition in Asia and third-largest deal overall.The purchase extends an acquisition run that has now cost Payward upwards of $2.6 billion across three headline deals alone.
2026-05-07 Source:theblock.co

Payward Inc., the parent company of Kraken, has agreed to acquire Hong Kong-based Reap Technologies for $600 million to expand into Asian stablecoin payments infrastructure, according to an announcement on Thursday.

The deal is being funded through a combination of cash and stock, with Payward issuing shares at a $20 billion valuation, Arjun Sethi, co-chief executive of Payward and Kraken, told Bloomberg.

Reap provides stablecoin-based cross-border and business payment services, connecting traditional financial systems with digital assets to facilitate cross-border money flows.

The firm is led by Daren Guo — who previously built Stripe's Asia Pacific business — and former investment banker Kevin Kang. The acquisition is Payward's first infrastructure deal in Asia and its third-largest overall, Sethi reportedly said. New business-to-business products expected from the combination also include card issuance and stablecoin payments.

Asia is now Payward's fastest-growing market outside Europe, Sethi said, citing both platform revenue and assets as factors that could fuel a larger U.S. presence as well.

Reap fits into a B2B infrastructure platform that Payward launched this year, which offers stablecoin payments, digital-asset trading, and lending services to fintechs, banks, brokerages, and businesses that accept cryptocurrency payments.

The deal lands days after Payward closed its acquisition of CFTC-licensed derivatives exchange Bitnomial for up to $550 million, The Block reported.

That followed last year's $1.5 billion purchase of retail futures platform NinjaTrader, the largest crypto-TradFi acquisition on record at the time.

Earlier deals have also included the token-vesting platform Magna, the tokenized-asset issuer Backed Finance, the CFTC-regulated derivatives venue Small Exchange, and the crypto prop trading platform Breakout. Payward reported $2.2 billion in adjusted revenue for 2025.

Kraken’s parent firm, Payward, confidentially filed for an initial public offering late last year.


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