Payward buys Reap for $600M to expand stablecoin payment services in Homg Kong

Kraken parent Payward has agreed to acquire Hong Kong-based Reap Technologies for up to $600 million, adding card issuance and cross-border stablecoin payment infrastructure to its expanding business services platform.

Payward announced Thursday that the transaction will be paid through a mix of cash and company stock, valuing the firm at $20 billion. Regulatory approvals are still pending, with the companies expecting the acquisition to close during the second half of 2026.

Founded in 2018 by former Stripe Asia Pacific executive Daren Guo and ex-investment banker Kevin Kang, Reap provides payment infrastructure designed to connect traditional banking systems with digital asset networks. The company’s tools support cross-border settlements, treasury operations, and payment processing tied to stablecoins.

Under the agreement, Reap will continue operating as a standalone platform, according to a joint statement from the company’s co-founders.

Reap deal adds payments infrastructure to Payward Services

Launched in March 2026, Payward Services combines trading, payments, funding, and digital asset tools for banks, fintech firms, and enterprise clients through a single integration layer. Reap’s infrastructure adds global card issuance and payment rails to that system, allowing partners to manage stablecoin treasury operations alongside fiat and crypto settlement services.

“Reap is the payments layer for what comes next. Card networks, banking rails, and blockchains on a single API, settling in stablecoins,” Payward and Kraken co-CEO Arjun Sethi said in the announcement.

Sethi also described the acquisition as Payward’s first infrastructure transaction in Asia and one of the company’s biggest deals so far. According to his remarks, Asia has become Payward’s fastest-growing region outside Europe in both revenue and platform assets.

“They have already done it in Asia. They can expand into the US overnight with us,” Sethi said.

Crypto firms have continued moving deeper into payment systems and stablecoin settlement services as fintech companies, and merchants test blockchain-based transfers for cross-border transactions and treasury management.

Acquisition streak continues ahead of possible IPO

The Reap transaction follows several acquisitions completed by Payward over the past year as the company builds regulated trading and financial infrastructure across multiple regions.

In April, Payward agreed to acquire Chicago-based Bitnomial for up to $550 million in cash and stock. Bitnomial became the first US crypto derivatives platform to secure all three Commodity Futures Trading Commission licenses simultaneously, including approvals to operate an exchange, clearinghouse, and brokerage business under one regulated structure.

At the time, Payward said Bitnomial’s infrastructure would be integrated across Kraken, NinjaTrader, and Payward Services to provide regulated crypto derivatives access through a single API.

Earlier deals included the $1.5 billion acquisition of futures broker NinjaTrader and the purchase of tokenized equities issuer Backed. According to Payward, those transactions form part of a long-term strategy to expand beyond spot crypto trading into payments, derivatives, and institutional financial services.

Payward reported $2.2 billion in revenue for 2025, up 33% from the previous year, while its platforms processed roughly $2 trillion in transactions and held more than $48 billion in customer assets at year-end.

An active IPO filing also remains in place. Sethi said in April that a public listing was still being considered after the company paused formal preparations in March due to market conditions.