Kraken parent Payward agreed to acquire Hong Kong payments firm Reap in a deal valued at up to $600M.
Payward Inc., the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, has agreed to acquire Hong Kong-based stablecoin payments firm Reap Technologies for up to $600 million, the company announced May 7. The deal is structured as a combination of cash and Payward stock, with the equity component priced at a $20 billion company valuation.
The acquisition is Payward's first infrastructure deal in Asia and its third-largest transaction overall, co-CEO Arjun Sethi said. It brings Payward's cumulative spending across three headline deals alone to more than $2.6 billion, following the $1.5 billion purchase of retail futures platform NinjaTrader in 2025 and the recent close of its acquisition of CFTC-licensed derivatives exchange Bitnomial for up to $550 million.
Reap was founded in 2018 by Daren Guo, who previously led Stripe's Asia Pacific business, and former investment banker Kevin Kang. The firm specializes in cross-border and business payment services that connect traditional financial systems with digital assets. Reap's co-founders said the platform will continue operating as a standalone product after closing, subject to regulatory approvals expected in the second half of 2026. #CryptoPayments
Reap Extends Payward Services Into Cards and Cross-Border Payments
The deal slots into Payward Services, a B2B infrastructure platform the company launched in March 2026. That platform allows fintechs, banks, brokerages, and crypto-accepting businesses to access trading, payments, funding, and digital asset services through a single system. Adding Reap extends it into card issuance, cross-border payments, and stablecoin treasury services.
"Reap is the payments layer for what comes next. Card networks, banking rails, and blockchains on a single API, settling in stablecoins," Sethi said in the announcement. He noted that Asia has become Payward's fastest-growing market outside Europe, measured by both platform revenue and assets. Sethi said the combination could also accelerate a US expansion. "They have already done it in Asia. They can expand into the US overnight with us," he said. #Fintech
Payward has completed several other acquisitions alongside the three headline deals, including token-vesting platform Magna, tokenized-asset issuer Backed Finance, CFTC-regulated derivatives venue Small Exchange, and crypto prop trading platform Breakout. The company reported $2.2 billion in adjusted revenue for 2025 and confidentially filed for an initial public offering (IPO) late last year.
The deal arrives as crypto companies increasingly move beyond exchange services into payments infrastructure and stablecoin-related products. Stablecoins have gained traction as a settlement layer for cross-border transactions due to their low cost and around-the-clock availability.
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