Kraken Parent Payward Buys Reap for $600 Million to Expand Stablecoin Payments

Kraken parent Payward has agreed to acquire Reap Technologies in a deal valued at about $600 million, adding a Hong Kong-based stablecoin payments firm to one of crypto’s longest-running exchange businesses. The cash-and-stock transaction gives Kraken a deeper foothold in commercial and cross-border payments at a time when stablecoins are moving further into everyday financial infrastructure.

The acquisition fits a broader pattern in Kraken’s expansion. The company has been moving beyond spot trading through derivatives, payments, tokenized assets and institutional services, while also preparing for a potential public listing. Reap adds a different kind of capability to that mix: infrastructure for businesses that want to send, receive and manage payments using stablecoins without rebuilding their own rails from scratch.

Reap’s business is especially relevant in Asia, where stablecoin use has become more closely tied to real-world payment needs, merchant settlement and cross-border treasury flows. For Kraken, buying that infrastructure could help turn payments into a larger part of the platform’s future revenue base, rather than leaving the company dependent only on trading activity and market cycles.

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The deal also lands shortly after Kraken and MoneyGram announced a partnership that allows users to convert crypto into cash through MoneyGram’s global payout network across more than 100 countries. Seen together, those steps point to a clearer payments strategy: Kraken is trying to connect exchange liquidity, stablecoin settlement and fiat access in a way that can serve both consumers and businesses.

Kraken remains privately held, but its M&A activity is giving investors a better sense of what the company wants to look like before any public-market debut. Reap’s stablecoin payments stack adds another piece to that picture, suggesting Kraken is building toward a broader financial platform where crypto is not just traded, but also moved, settled and spent across global payment corridors.