Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, said its preferred revenue measure fell 12% in the third quarter from a year earlier as trading activity stayed subdued. Income from client assets and access to services made up a larger share of the total, and results improved from the second quarter.
Payward reported a 12% year-over-year drop in its preferred measure of revenue in the third quarter, as trading fees declined on subdued market activity. Total platform margin fell to $487 million, the Wyoming-based company said in a blog post shared with CoinDesk.
The metric replaces adjusted revenue. It deducts staking rewards paid to clients alongside trading costs.
Rivals report steeper declines
Payward is not alone in facing low trading volumes. Coinbase Global's third-quarter revenue fell 35% year over year, while Gemini Space Station reported a 19% revenue decline and a 73% slump in volumes. These figures underscore the pressure on exchanges to develop income beyond trading fees.
Services lift share of income
Payward has been expanding into a broader financial services business that spans trading, banking, asset management and Payward Services, which provides financial infrastructure to other companies. That helped lift income tied to client assets and access to products, data and services to 52% of the total, up from 46% a year earlier.
The company also added artificial intelligence as a fifth business pillar, outlining plans for a personal finance agent and investment funds built on its xStocks tokenized equities platform. In November, a Payward-affiliated fund and its clients bought an undisclosed amount of AAVE tokens through secondary-market purchases.
Payward has also been pursuing partnerships with major banks. CoinDesk previously reported, citing people familiar with the discussions, that it held talks with Wells Fargo about supplying liquidity for crypto trading and discussed a financial-infrastructure partnership with BNY that could span digital assets, custody, wealth management, trading and payments.
Signs of a rebound from Q2
There are signs of a rebound in crypto volumes. Total platform margin gained 12% compared with the second quarter, the company said. Adjusted earnings, which remain well below the year-earlier figure, also rose during the quarter as trading activity picked up.
Source: CoinDesk
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