About

The parent company behind a portfolio built for modern markets

Payward, Inc. is a unified financial infrastructure platform that powers a family of products advancing an open, global financial system.

Built on a single shared architecture, Payward enables customers to hold, trade, earn, pay, and invest across asset classes without friction or fragmentation.

At its core, Payward provides the infrastructure layer behind Kraken and a growing set of purpose-built products, including NinjaTrader, Breakout, xStocks, and CF Benchmarks.

Payward separates infrastructure from product expression. Each product surface is designed for a specific customer segment, regulatory regime, and use case—while operating on the same global foundation.

Shared architecture

  • One global liquidity pool
  • One unified risk and margin engine
  • One collateral and settlement system
  • One compliance and licensing framework

What we build

Open, programmable rails—vertically integrated

Our platform runs nodes and pools liquidity across assets, geographies, and time zones. It began as a high-performance venue for professional traders and evolved into a unified platform for trading, custody, yield, payments, and lending.

24/7 multi-asset trading

Always-on markets across digital and traditional assets.

Instant settlement

Speed and finality designed for modern market structure.

On-demand leverage

Risk-managed access for professional workflows.

Global counterparties

Direct access through precise, intuitive interfaces.

Timeline

Key milestones

From a pro-trader exchange to a multi-asset platform on crypto rails.

2008

Bitcoin is introduced with the release of the Bitcoin whitepaper.

2011

Jesse Powell helps Mt. Gox recover from a security attack and co-founds Kraken in July 2011.

2014

First exchange to announce verifiable Proof of Reserves and provide Bitcoin market data to Bloomberg Terminal.

2015

First exchange offering crypto spot and futures on one platform; first to list ETH.

2019

Kraken receives the first SPDI digital asset bank charter in Wyoming.

2020

First crypto facility to receive a UK Multilateral Trading Facility (MTF) license.

Today

NinjaTrader acquisition, xStocks and 11,000+ stocks/ETFs, 16 interfaces, and an $800M funding round led by Citadel, Jane Street, Oppenheimer, and Tribe Capital.

Mission & values

Principles that shape how we build

Move fast without cutting corners—measure success through trust, quality, and durable outcomes.

Trust is the unit of output

Ship fast without compromising security, compliance, or quality.

Outcomes over optics

Decision-making stays close to the work; small teams own results.

Write it down, then move

Writing is the default because clarity scales.

No ordinary work

The mission demands meaningful work—often difficult, often uncomfortable.

Testing is a requirement

If we build it, we use it; we learn products deeply and study competitors.

Radical transparency

Direct communication and healthy disagreement with good intent.

Invest in people

Competitive pay, equity, growth paths, mobility, wellness, and coaching.

Proud, never satisfied

The mission demands more—and so do we.

Global presence

Available in most major jurisdictions

Built to scale globally while adapting locally—with one of the industry’s most comprehensive regulatory frameworks.

Payward global presence

United States

DCM · FCM · MSB · MTLs · Broker-Dealer · RIA · SPDI bank charter

Canada

Money Services Business · Restricted Dealer & Exempt Marketplace

United Kingdom

Benchmark Admin · EMI · MTF · Registered Crypto Asset Business

EU / EEA

MiCA CASP · E-Money Institution · MiFID License

Australia

AFSL · Registered Digital Currency Exchange · Financial Advisory

Bermuda

Digital Asset Business License

Join the mission

Explore open roles across the Payward portfolio.

Careers Contact