Kraken Parent Payward Buys Magic Labs' 60M-Wallet Unit

Payward, the parent company of cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the wallet-as-a-service business of Magic Labs. The transaction is expected to close in the coming weeks, subject to customary closing conditions.

The deal brings Magic Labs' embedded non-custodial wallet technology into Payward Services, the company's infrastructure platform for institutional and business clients. Payward Services already offers crypto trading, custody, tokenized assets, fiat on- and off-ramps, and derivatives. Once the acquisition closes, enterprise customers will be able to access wallet capabilities through the same provider rather than stitching together multiple vendors.

Magic Labs said its infrastructure has powered more than 60 million wallets, processed over $10 billion in stablecoin volume, and supported more than 200,000 developers. Its platform relies on trusted execution environment (TEE)-based signing, embedded wallet integrations, and developer SDKs to help businesses deploy and manage self-custodial wallets at scale.

Mark Greenberg, chief commercial officer of Payward, said embedded wallets have become foundational for on-chain applications. "Embedded wallets are becoming foundational infrastructure for every onchain product. Magic Labs' technology lets us bring that layer in-house and offer partners a complete, integrated stack—exchange, custody, and now wallets—without stitching together multiple providers," he said.

Following the sale, Magic Labs will operate as Newton Labs and focus on Newton Protocol, an authorization layer for on-chain finance designed to enforce identity, compliance, security, and risk policies before transactions execute. Sean Li, CEO of Newton Labs, said the divestiture allows the company to concentrate on the protocol's next phase of development. "This transition allows us to put our full energy behind Newton, the authorization layer for onchain finance, while the wallet business moves to a team committed to serving our customers," he said.

The Magic Labs purchase is the latest in a series of acquisitions Payward has used to build out its infrastructure stack. The company completed a $600 million acquisition of stablecoin payments firm Reap in July, following its $550 million purchase of derivatives platform Bitnomial and its $1.5 billion acquisition of futures broker NinjaTrader in 2025. Payward has also raised capital at a $20 billion valuation as it works toward a planned public listing.