Kraken
Crypto trading and infrastructure platform for consumers and institutions.
Available information varies by company and source.
Profile record updated:
Company facts
- Official name
- Payward, Inc.
- Entity type
- COMPANY
- Founded
- 2011
- Headquarters
- United States
- Company size
- 1,001–5,000
- Market role
- B2C Consumer App / Platform
- Official website
- kraken.com
What Kraken does
Kraken operates a multi-product financial platform centred on digital asset trading and custody. It creates value by aggregating retail and institutional demand into a single ecosystem that combines execution, wallet functionality, staking, payments, API access and related infrastructure. Consumer users access trading and financial utilities directly through apps and desktop products, while institutional and enterprise customers use higher-touch trading, custody, OTC, API and managed service offerings. The model benefits from cross-sell across user segments, where trading users can adopt staking, subscriptions, wallet and payments products, and enterprise clients can adopt custody, liquidity and infrastructure modules.
Category differentiation
This refers to the digital asset exchange and financial platform, not the cryptocurrency itself, a gaming brand, or unrelated software products with similar names. It is broader than a simple wallet because it also operates trading, institutional and infrastructure services.
Strategic context
AI-supported assessment from the existing company research; distinguish interpretation from sourced facts.
Kraken is a private digital asset platform headquartered in the United States that serves both consumers and institutions. Its core business is enabling users to buy, sell, convert, stake and hold crypto assets through web, mobile, desktop and API-based products. Beyond retail trading, it also offers professional trading tools, institutional custody and liquidity services, tokenised equities access, payment and transfer functionality, and infrastructure for third-party platforms. The company generates most of its revenue from transaction fees on trading activity, with additional monetisation from staking commissions, premium subscriptions, custody and institutional service fees, and infrastructure or licensing-style revenue from B2B platform services. Its customers span retail investors, active traders, developers, hedge funds, asset managers, corporations, blockchain projects and fintech platforms seeking embedded crypto capabilities.
Company news briefing
Briefing updated:
Building on its NinjaTrader acquisition and Deutsche Börse investment, Kraken continues to scale its multi-asset infrastructure, bolstered by a $100 million investment from Nasdaq into parent company Payward to advance tokenised equities. Kraken expanded user capabilities by launching US-listed stock trading and Mastercard-backed debit card spending for EEA and UK customers. Furthermore, the company rolled out a unified Kraken Prime interface and is adapting its application to support continuous AI agent trading.
Business model & monetisation
Kraken monetises primarily through transaction-based trading fees using maker-taker and spread-based pricing, with lower fee tiers for higher-volume traders. It also earns staking commissions by taking a share of user rewards, monthly subscription revenue from Kraken+, custody and institutional service fees, and B2B infrastructure revenue from API, on/off-ramp and managed platform services. This creates a blended monetisation model spanning take-rate, subscription and service-based income.
- Retail and professional trading fees
- Percentage take-rate on transactions, spreads and tiered maker-taker pricing
- Institutional custody, OTC and service fees
- Service fee / retainer and transactional pricing
- Staking commissions
- Percentage share of user rewards
- Premium subscriptions
- Monthly SaaS-style subscription via Kraken+
- Infrastructure and API services
- Licensing, integration and usage-based B2B revenue
Products & capabilities
No products with linked sources are available in this view.
Products & market categories
Competitors & alternatives
- Robinhood
Consumer brokerage and fintech app for investing and crypto.
- Bybit
Crypto exchange platform for trading, yield, lending and payments.
- Paribu
Turkish crypto exchange expanding into custody and MENA markets.
- Revolut
App-first fintech platform for banking, payments, trading and business finance.
- Freedom24
European retail brokerage platform for multi-asset investing.
Side-by-side comparisons
Recent recorded signals
Dates refer to the source publication. Older entries are historical context, not evidence of a new event.
Nasdaq invests $100M in Kraken parent, targeting tokenized stocks by 2027
Tokenized Assets · Recorded impact score: 4/5
Nasdaq's venture capital arm has invested $100 million in Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, to advance the development and launch of tokenized equities. The partnership aims to launch Nasdaq Equity Tokens (NETs) in the second quarter of 2027, with Nasdaq providing market surveillance technology across Payward's trading venues. The investment values Payward at $21 billion. This move reflects a broader trend on Wall Street toward tokenized securities, though debates persist about the nature of tokenized assets and shareholder rights, as highlighted by a recent dispute between Robinhood and AMC.
- Nasdaq's venture arm invested $100 million in Kraken parent Payward.
- Partnership aims to launch tokenized equities (Nasdaq Equity Tokens) in Q2 2027.
Kraken affiliate launches cashback debit card
Payments · Recorded impact score: 2/5
Kraken’s payments app affiliate, Krak, has launched the Krak Card, a U.S. debit card that offers up to 2% back in cash or bitcoin and lets customers spend from more than 600 fiat currencies and crypto assets. Rewards are paid as money rather than points and the cashback rate can increase based on the value of assets a user holds. The card is issued through a partner bank subject to U.S. debit interchange limits. Kraken — founded in 2011 and owned by parent Payward — is using the product to retain deposits, drive spending and deepen customer asset holdings; the company also has a Wyoming bank charter and secured a Federal Reserve master account earlier in 2026. CNBC published the report on August 18, 2026.
- The Krak Card offers up to 2% cash or bitcoin back, paid directly as money rather than points.
- The card can spend directly from over 600 fiat currencies and crypto assets and can split purchases across multiple balances.
AI Agents Drive Crypto Infrastructure Shift
Crypto infrastructure and AI agents · Recorded impact score: 3/5
Major crypto firms are positioning AI agents as a new class of users to expand demand beyond traders. Exchanges and stablecoin issuers are building agent-focused features — Kraken is rebuilding its app for continuous agent trading, Coinbase launched tools to let agents execute trades via natural language, and Circle is promoting its Arc blockchain and USDC stablecoin as programmable rails for agent-to-agent commerce. Proponents argue that stablecoins, smart contracts and always-on wallets better suit machine-to-machine payments than traditional banking rails, potentially creating sustained transaction volume outside speculative trading.
- Kraken said it is rebuilding its app to give users access to AI agents that can continuously monitor markets and execute trades in real time.
- Coinbase launched a new tool to allow AI agents to execute crypto trades using natural language instructions.
Your Kraken balance, ready to spend: the Kraken Card is here
Recorded impact score: 5/5
Spend your Kraken crypto and cash balances, anywhere Mastercard is accepted across the globe. Now available to eligible customers across the UK and EEA, with additional markets coming soon.
Explore company relationships
Questions about Kraken
What is Kraken?
Kraken is a digital asset platform offering crypto trading, custody, staking, payments and institutional services through consumer apps, desktop tools and APIs.
Who uses Kraken?
Kraken is used by retail investors, active traders, developers, hedge funds, asset managers, corporations, fintech platforms and blockchain projects.
How does Kraken make money?
Kraken makes money mainly from trading fees, plus staking commissions, subscriptions, custody and institutional service fees, and B2B infrastructure revenue.
Sources & coverage
This profile uses public, official and technically observable information. Missing information does not prove that a product or relationship does not exist. The list below does not imply that every profile statement has been verified.
12 publicly documented primary sources and citations linked across the market graph.
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