Kraken Parent Payward to Buy Reap for $600M
Hey FinTech Fanatic!
Payward, the parent company behind cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, has agreed to acquire Hong Kong-based Reap Technologies in a deal worth up to $600 million in cash and stock.
Reap specializes in cross-border payments, stablecoin infrastructure, and B2B financial services, making it a strategically compelling fit for a firm with global ambitions.
The rationale is straightforward: deepen its foothold in Asia, scale up B2B infrastructure, and push stablecoins further into everyday payment flows.
One of the reasons this deal is particularly notable is its timing. Crypto firms are increasingly positioning themselves as the next generation of financial infrastructure, competing head-to-head with traditional payment service providers and banking rails, and Kraken appears to be moving with conviction.
Asia continues to stand out as one of the fastest-growing regions for digital asset adoption and stablecoin activity, and this acquisition signals that Payward isn't content to watch from the sidelines.
If the integration goes smoothly, it could meaningfully accelerate Kraken's push beyond pure crypto trading and into the broader financial services arena.
Keep moving with the rest of today’s top FinTech headlines below. 👇 See you on Monday!
Cheers,
POST OF THE DAY
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PODCAST RECOMMENDATION
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FINTECH NEWS
🇵🇹 Mastercard establishes Lisbon Centre of Excellence for Innovation, where around 600 specialists are developing AI-driven payment, cybersecurity, and digital commerce solutions. The hub also showcased Portugal’s first live Agent Pay transaction, highlighting Mastercard’s focus on secure and innovative digital payments.
🇸🇪 Klarna CMO builds an AI avatar for employee frustration. Klarna CMO David Sandström created an AI version of himself to collect employee feedback during budget cuts, later inspiring the company to launch an AI chatbot based on CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski for customer feedback and engagement.
🇺🇸 Credit Karma opens site for Americans with no credit history. “Credit invisible” individuals are now able to create Credit Karma accounts, the company said in a statement. This will give them free access to Credit Karma’s tools, including two that use alternative data to help consumers build credit.
PAYMENTS NEWS
🇭🇰 PhotonPay earns triple recognition from Mastercard. This triple distinction, spanning New Mastercard Product Launch (Physical Card), New Service Launch (MDES Enablement), and New Service Launch (Consulting Services), marks a significant milestone in PhotonPay's evolution from a payment enabler to a comprehensive infrastructure partner for global businesses.
🇵🇹 Bison Bank launches Portugal’s first stablecoin. Designed for fast, secure, and transparent international payments and transfers, this digital asset will be issued in two crypto assets: one referenced to the Euro, designated ‘EUB’, and the other referenced to the US Dollar, designated ‘USB’.
🇺🇸 Plaid has launched Cash Advance Index, a new risk solution designed for cash advance and earned wage access providers. By analyzing user behavior across a broader financial ecosystem instead of relying on a single bank account, the tool aims to improve repayment risk assessment and help providers balance growth, risk, and financial access more effectively.
🇹🇳 Tunisia launches “TUNPAY” to unify the mobile payment system nationwide. The initiative aims to simplify cashless transactions, improve trust and interoperability, and accelerate digital financial inclusion by introducing a single recognizable payment label for consumers and businesses.
🌏 Indonesia and China launch cross-border QR payments via Alipay+. At launch, Alipay and UnionPay app users could pay at more than 40 million QRIS merchants in Indonesia, while QRIS-supported wallets and bank apps could scan over 80 million Alipay and UnionPay QR codes in China.
DIGITAL BANKING NEWS
🇨🇦 Koho, close to securing a banking licence, hopes to launch a telco product. CEO Daniel Eberhard also revealed that Koho is exploring expansion beyond banking, including a potential telecom offering, as the FinTech continues to grow its revenue and product ecosystem.
BLOCKCHAIN/CRYPTO NEWS
🇸🇬 Crypto.com has launched Crypto.com Travel, an in-app booking service powered by Bookit that gives eligible users another way to earn crypto rewards. Crypto.com Travel gives users access to more than one million global travel listings, including hotels, flights, cruises, car rentals, and experiences, as well as 20 million tickets.
🇻🇳 Bithumb has partnered with SSI Digital in Vietnam to support the launch of a licensed digital asset exchange, positioning the South Korean crypto platform for expansion into one of Southeast Asia’s fastest-growing crypto markets. Keep reading
🇭🇰 Alchemy Pay is developing Alchemy Chain, a stablecoin-powered blockchain designed to simplify global payments, cross-border transfers, and multi-currency transactions. The platform will aggregate major stablecoins and use $ACH as its native gas token to support seamless cross-chain and fiat-crypto payment infrastructure.
PARTNERSHIPS
🇺🇸 Yuno and Triple-A partner to enable stablecoin payment acceptance for global merchants. The partnership embeds Triple-A’s regulated stablecoin infrastructure directly into Yuno, providing merchants with a secure, compliant way to accept digital currencies.
🌍 Mastercard and Yellow Card partner to unlock stablecoin payment innovation across EEMEA. Both companies will work with banks, financial institutions, and regulatory bodies to pilot secure, compliant stablecoin solutions that enhance payment efficiency and reduce costs for businesses and consumers.
🇬🇧 ANNA Money unveils product expansion as SMEs face rising tax and admin pressures. By combining banking, savings, tax automation, and AI-powered expense management, the company aims to simplify financial operations and strengthen its position in the growing embedded finance market.
🇬🇧 Pleo integrates expense management with iplicit cloud accounting. Users with access to the integration will be able to extend iplicit's existing expense management capabilities with features such as smart corporate cards, advanced controls, and AI-powered spend optimisation recommendations powered by Pleo.
🇺🇸 Stripe has partnered with Amazon Web Services to power AgentCore Payments through Privy, enabling AI agents to autonomously discover services, make micropayments, and transact using USDC on Base and Solana. The new Amazon Bedrock AgentCore capability also integrates x402 and Coinbase to support enterprise-grade governance, compliance, and instant stablecoin settlement.
🇬🇧 SecondFi and Wirex partner to launch self-custodial card, putting global users in full control of their money. It will enable users to spend directly from their own wallets while retaining full control of their funds at all times. Continue reading
🇺🇸 Mesh and Stellar announce integration to advance stablecoin payment settlement. Through this integration, Mesh and Stellar will deepen alignment across their respective ecosystems, enabling enterprises to access trusted settlement infrastructure while unlocking new opportunities for joint innovation.
DONEDEAL FUNDING NEWS
🇬🇧 Five raises $6M to bring palm-based payments to market. London-based, founded by former Revolut alumni Maria Marti and Thibaut Genevrier, has secured $6 million in fresh funding to develop biometric payment technology using palm recognition.
🇦🇪 Mubadala leads $15M Series A in UAE’s FinTech pioneer CredibleX. This latest equity round strengthens its capital base further and will be used to expand both its lending and non-lending lines, enhance its technology and data capabilities, and grow its partner distribution network.
🇺🇸 Kalshi raises $1 Billion at a $22 Billion valuation as institutional adoption accelerates. Kalshi will use the new capital to scale adoption across hedge funds, asset managers, proprietary trading firms, and insurance companies, unlocking access to trillions of dollars in capital.
🇺🇸 Fazeshift scores $17M as investors bet on AI-powered finance ops, starting with accounts receivable. Fazeshift claims that it can automate more than 90% of manual AR tasks by operating on top of existing systems and executing workflows across them.
🌎 Movement invests in Stableyard to build the end-to-end experience layer of stablecoin payments. Backed by a strategic investment from Movement Labs, the company aims to make stablecoin adoption seamless for merchants as global payment giants like Stripe, PayPal, Visa, and Mastercard expand their stablecoin initiatives.
M&A
🇮🇳 FinTech startup Freo acquires IndiaLends. The acquisition brings together Freo’s financial products and regulatory licences with IndiaLends’ lending marketplace and distribution network. The integration is expected to improve operating metrics and strengthen product execution over the coming months.
🌏 Kraken parent company Payward Inc. has agreed to acquire Hong Kong-based stablecoin payments firm Reap Technologies for $600 million, expanding its push into cross-border payment services across Asia. The deal follows Payward’s recent acquisition of derivatives exchange Bitnomial as the company diversifies beyond crypto trading ahead of a potential IPO.
MOVERS AND SHAKERS
🇱🇺 Banking Circle appoints Patrick Green as Chief Compliance Officer as global expansion accelerates. In this role, he will focus on strengthening a unified compliance framework that supports consistent, scalable risk management. This includes further embedding a data-led, risk-based approach, enhancing transparency around risk appetite for both clients and internal teams.
🇿🇦 Yoco appoints Carsten Höltkemeyer as new CEO as the South African FinTech expands from payments into a broader commerce platform strategy. The company, which serves over 200,000 merchants, plans to combine payments, POS systems, capital, and AI-powered tools into a unified ecosystem for SMEs.
🇺🇸 Brex COO Camilla Matias is stepping down after nearly eight years at the company, during which she helped lead Brex’s expansion across financial services, software, and AI-driven operations. Read more
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