Kraken Parent To Buy Magic Wallet Business as IPO Plans Remain on Hold

While the financial terms were not disclosed, the deal is expected to close in the coming weeks. Payward said it will integrate Magic's embedded wallet technology into Payward Services, its business-to-business (B2B) financial infrastructure platform.

Magic Labs' co-founder Sean Li called the transaction an asset sale in a post on X and said that Magic Labs will remain a separate company and function under the new name Newton Labs.

"Embedded wallets are becoming foundational infrastructure for every onchain product," Mark Greenberg, Payward's chief commercial officer, said in a statement. "Magic Labs' technology lets us bring that layer in-house and offer partners a complete, integrated stack."

The acquisition is Payward's latest move as it continues to expand beyond its exchange business while its listing ambitions remain on hold. The company confidentially filed a draft registration statement for an initial public offering (IPO) with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in November 2025, but paused the process in March because of weaker market conditions. 

It has not publicly filed a prospectus or announced a new listing date, though company executives have signaled that public listing plans remain active for later in the year.

Expansion strategy 

The Magic Labs deal follows more than $1.15bn of announced acquisitions by Payward this year. In May, the exchange operator agreed to acquire Hong Kong-based payments and stablecoin firm Reap Technologies for $600mn.

In April, Payward announced it would acquire US derivatives exchange Bitnomial for up to $550mn. In February, the platform acquired token management platform Magna.

Payward has also announced plans to expand through partnerships. In May, it partnered with asset manager Franklin Templeton to bring tokenized money market funds (MMFs) to its platform. 

Around the same time, it also applied for a national trust charter with the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). If approved, it would allow the company to expand its regulated digital asset custody services in the US.

Payward was valued at $20bn in November 2025. By April, however, Deutsche Börse’s $200mn purchase of a 1.5% stake implied a lower valuation of about $13.3bn after months of declining crypto prices.

A broader trend

Payward's move also highlights a growing trend of major crypto firms racing to add payments, custody, tokenized assets and other services to expand beyond just selling and buying digital assets. 

For instance, cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has expanded into services including futures trading, crypto-backed loans, rewards for holding stablecoins, prediction markets and tokenized stocks, which are digital versions of traditional assets that trade on blockchain networks.

The company has repeatedly shared goals of wanting customers to be able to trade a wide range of assets from a single account at any time of day.

Financial services firm Robinhood, which started as a stock trading app, has also expanded its crypto business. Along with letting users buy and sell cryptocurrencies, it now offers staking, prediction markets and tokenized US stocks for European investors.

Meanwhile, crypto exchange Gemini has also expanded beyond cryptocurrency trading. The exchange recently launched tokenized US stocks in Europe and introduced AI-powered trading tools.

The moves suggest that expanding beyond trading has become a common strategy for crypto companies as they prepare for, or adapt to, life as public companies.

Payward did not immediately respond to a request for additional comment from Sandmark.