Payward, the parent company of Kraken, reported $508 million in adjusted revenue for the second quarter of 2026, up 17% year over year, while adjusted EBITDA dropped sharply to $23 million. 

The company disclosed the results on Aug. 14 as weaker spot trading weighed on activity despite growth across other financial products.

The profitability decline was substantial. Kraken reported $80 million of adjusted EBITDA on $432 million of adjusted revenue in Q2 2025. Payward did not disclose net income in its latest release. Its earlier financial disclosures describe adjusted revenue and adjusted EBITDA as management measures that exclude certain expenses.

Payward revenue grew while transaction volume fell

Total platform transaction volume reached $310 billion, down 18% from the previous year. Payward attributed the decline partly to weaker crypto spot volumes, while saying traditional futures, equities and tokenized equities grew during the quarter. Futures daily average revenue trades increased 8%.

Revenue also became less dependent on transaction fees. Asset-based and other revenue accounted for 60% of total revenue, compared with 55% a year earlier. Payward said that shift reflects income generated from assets and services surrounding its trading operations rather than a retreat from trading itself.

Assets on the platform stood at $40 billion at quarter-end. Payward also reported $65 billion of what it calls “Real Assets on Platform,” calculated by holding prices at Q2 2025 levels to remove market-price effects. That adjusted measure increased 48% year over year, according to the company.

Funded accounts reach a record 6.6 million

Payward reported 6.6 million funded accounts, up 42% year over year and the highest level in its history. However, comparisons with Kraken’s previously published 4.4 million funded accounts for Q2 2025 require caution.

The newer Payward definition counts distinct funded accounts across its platforms and products and counts sub-accounts separately. Kraken’s 2025 disclosure instead described funded accounts as funded customers with balances above zero. The reporting perimeter has also expanded as Payward integrated businesses such as NinjaTrader and Bitnomial.

Bitnomial expands Payward’s regulated U.S. derivatives stack

Payward closed its acquisition of Bitnomial on May 1, adding a CFTC-regulated designated contract market, clearing organization and futures commission merchant. As crypto.news previously reported, the $550 million Bitnomial acquisition gave Payward a vertically integrated U.S. derivatives stack.

Payward said the infrastructure supported regulated U.S. perpetual futures and spot margin products during Q2. Separately, a July CFTC letter shows Kraken is reconsidering the future of Kraken Derivatives Exchange, the former Small Exchange it acquired in 2025, including potential partnerships or a sale following the Bitnomial transaction.

Its federal banking push is also unresolved. The OCC still lists Payward National Trust Company’s May 8 charter application among pending digital-asset licensing applications. As crypto.news reported, the proposed national trust company would give Payward a federally supervised custody entity if regulators approve it.

What happens next for Payward

Payward expects its second-half strategy to focus on broader trading products, banking, tokenization, payments and services sold to third-party platforms. It completed its Reap acquisition on July 1 and has agreed to acquire Magic Labs’ wallet infrastructure business, although that transaction has not yet closed.

Tokenized equities remain a major part of that strategy. In related coverage, Payward expanded xStocks beyond U.S. equities through its GTN partnership, while Kraken has also begun allowing eligible users to use selected tokenized stocks as collateral.

The next financial report will show whether Payward can maintain revenue growth while restoring profitability. For now, Q2 presents a mixed picture: revenue and funded accounts increased, but transaction volume fell and adjusted EBITDA declined from $80 million to $23 million.

XRP briefly fell below the closely watched $1 level before rebounding on Aug. 16 as veteran trader Peter Brandt renewed his criticism of the cryptocurrency and said he would prefer Bitcoin even if given a large XRP position.

Brandt wrote in an X post that he was not interested in owning the token after another user challenged his views. “Who the heck even cares about XRP?” Brandt wrote, adding that he trades futures and “I would convert it immediately to BTC” if he owned half a million XRP. His remarks describe a personal asset preference, not a disclosed transaction or new trading position.

XRP rebounds after briefly falling below $1

XRP traded below $1 during Sunday’s session. A CoinGecko snapshot showed the token near $0.9993, while the latest market feed checked for this report put XRP at about $1.059. Bitcoin was trading near $62,926. The price movement has not been linked to Brandt’s post.

At $1.059, the hypothetical 500,000 XRP position discussed by Brandt would be worth about $529,500, equivalent to roughly 8.4 BTC at current prices. Brandt did not say he actually controls such a position.

The latest weakness leaves XRP about 71% below its record price. CoinGecko places its all time high at $3.65 on July 17, 2025. The same data source showed the token as much as 72.6% below that peak while XRP was trading under $1 earlier Sunday.

Brandt has repeatedly challenged XRP’s price outlook

Brandt’s latest comments continue a long running debate with XRP supporters. In March 2025, he identified what he called a textbook head and shoulders pattern. His chart suggested XRP could fall toward $1.07 if key support failed, while a move above $3 could invalidate the bearish structure.

XRP eventually traded near the level he identified, although reaching a technical target much later does not prove that the original chart caused or accurately predicted the decline. Market conditions changed materially between the March 2025 analysis and August 2026.

Brandt has also repeatedly criticized the conviction of some XRP traders. In December, he wrote that XRP and silver bulls were among the groups he had found easiest to provoke during his trading career dating to 1975.

His preference for Bitcoin also should not be interpreted as an immediate bullish Bitcoin forecast. As crypto.news recently reported, Brandt said Bitcoin could revisit roughly $58,000 after a large head and shoulders breakdown. He explicitly said he had not entered that trade and presented the decline as a possible scenario rather than a confirmed destination.

Onchain data shows reduced whale transfers to Binance

XRP’s test of $1 comes while one measure of potential exchange selling pressure has fallen sharply. CryptoQuant contributor Darkfost reported that the three month average of XRP whale inflows to Binance had declined to about $61 million, its lowest level since 2021.

As crypto.news reported, XRP whale inflows to Binance fell to their lowest level since 2021, compared with $456 million in January 2025 and $355 million in October. Lower exchange deposits can indicate less potential sell side supply, but they do not guarantee higher prices because demand can weaken simultaneously.

XRP had already been testing the same psychological level before Brandt’s latest comments. In related coverage, XRP traded near $1 as futures positioning increased, leaving traders focused on whether the support could survive sustained selling rather than a brief intraday break.

What happens next for XRP

The immediate market question is whether XRP can establish support back above $1 following Sunday’s recovery. A brief move below a round number does not by itself confirm a longer term breakdown. Traders would need additional price action, volume and market structure evidence before treating the move as durable.

Brandt has not published a new XRP price target alongside his Aug. 16 criticism. His comment was about preference between XRP and Bitcoin, not a forecast that XRP will fall further. Any attempt to present the post as a fresh bearish price prediction would therefore go beyond what he actually said.

For now, the verified developments are separate: XRP briefly lost $1 before recovering, whale deposits to Binance have fallen sharply, and Brandt remains unwilling to hold the token despite its current price being close to the $1.07 area he identified in a 2025 technical scenario.

Solana is now accessible on the XRP Ledger’s native decentralized exchange through a wrapped SOL asset issued through Axelar, extending interoperability between the two blockchain ecosystems. 

Axelar confirmed the availability in an Aug. 14 post, directing users to SOL/XRP trading on XPMarket.

Hussein Zangana, known as Vet, warned users that Axelar is currently “the only legitimate issuer” of wrapped SOL on XRPL and told traders to beware of copycat assets. His warning matters because tokens on the XRP Ledger are identified by both their currency code and issuer account, rather than a ticker alone.

Mark Cuban said on Aug. 16 that “chips as an asset class will be the new crypto,” offering a one-line prediction as artificial intelligence drives demand for advanced computing hardware. 

Cuban did not identify a financial product, investment structure or timetable in his post.

The comment has been widely interpreted as referring to high-end AI accelerators such as GPUs. However, Cuban did not explicitly define which chips he meant. His claim therefore remains a broad investment thesis rather than an announced business venture or established asset category.

GPU-backed financing gives Cuban’s idea a precedent

AI hardware is already being used in financial structures that go beyond simply purchasing semiconductor stocks. CoreWeave closed a $2.6 billion delayed draw term loan facility on Aug. 10 to finance high-performance computing infrastructure. The company said the structure reflected lender confidence in long-term GPU demand.

The approximately five-year facility extends beyond the average three-year duration of the customer contracts supporting it. CoreWeave said lenders were therefore accepting renewal risk based partly on expectations for the future value of Nvidia GPUs deployed through its cloud platform. The transaction was also oversubscribed.

CoreWeave has pursued GPU-backed financing for several years. In May, it completed another $3.1 billion publicly syndicated facility and described AI infrastructure financing as an “emerging asset class.” That is CoreWeave’s characterization and does not mean individual GPUs currently trade like cryptocurrencies.

AI demand is supporting strong GPU economics

Nvidia’s latest reported quarter provides another measure of demand. The chipmaker reported $75.2 billion in data center revenue for the quarter ended April 26, up 92% from the previous year. Total quarterly revenue reached a record $81.6 billion, according to its May results.

Those figures do not establish chips as a standalone investment class. GPUs are physical assets that face technological obsolescence and depend on electricity, networking, data center capacity and customer utilization to generate revenue. Their supply also lacks the fixed issuance mechanics that distinguish Bitcoin.

Bitcoin advocate Pierre Rochard made that distinction in response to Cuban. He wrote that chip manufacturing has neither difficulty adjustments nor halvings and is therefore “not the new bitcoin.”

Cuban’s prediction follows his retreat from Bitcoin

Cuban’s latest comment comes less than three months after he sharply reduced his Bitcoin exposure. As crypto.news previously reported, he sold roughly 80% of his Bitcoin holdings after losing confidence in its hedge narrative. Cuban said Bitcoin was “not the hedge I expected” and had “lost the plot.”

He did not abandon every digital asset. Cuban said he continued holding Ethereum because he viewed smart contracts and decentralized finance as having clearer utility. His Aug. 16 chips comment did not say that he was replacing his remaining crypto exposure with hardware investments.

What happens next

The clearest test of Cuban’s prediction will be whether GPU financing becomes more standardized and accessible beyond specialist AI infrastructure operators. CoreWeave’s transactions show institutional lenders are already willing to finance computing infrastructure at multibillion-dollar scale and accept some risk around the future earning power of GPUs.

For now, however, “chips as an asset class” remains Cuban’s prediction rather than a defined market category. The underlying trend is measurable: Nvidia is reporting rapidly growing data center sales, while lenders are financing GPU-backed infrastructure in increasingly large transactions. Whether those developments eventually produce a liquid market resembling crypto remains unconfirmed.

Justin Sun said on Aug. 14 that Binance had clarified its coming restrictions on transactions involving HTX apply only to Binance users in the UK and European Union. 

His statement followed Binance’s notice that it will stop processing direct or indirect transactions involving HTX and ten other platforms from Aug. 23.

Sun said he had been communicating with Binance and that HTX does not conduct business in either region. He also said settlement negotiations with UK and EU regulators were underway. Binance’s public notice, however, does not itself state that the restrictions are limited to UK and EU customers. It says the exchange must comply with requirements in jurisdictions where it operates.

Binance restrictions match the EU’s Aug. 23 sanctions list

Binance named Rapira, Aifory Pro, ABCeX, WhiteBird, NoOnecrypto, Tradex, Monease, BitPapa, Exnode, HTX and EXMO in the Aug. 23 group. Transactions attempted after the deadline may be held for compliance review, while affected wallets can face restrictions during that process.

The list and effective date match an EU sanctions measure adopted July 23. Council Regulation 2026/1848 places the same eleven platforms under transaction restrictions from Aug. 23 and identifies them as entities providing crypto asset services outside the EU that significantly frustrate sanctions involving Russia. As crypto.news reported, Binance will stop processing transactions involving HTX and ten other platforms from Aug. 23.

Sun’s geographic clarification is absent from Binance’s notice

Sun wrote that “This matter concerns only Binance’s UK and EU users.” That geographic limitation comes from Sun’s account of his discussions with Binance. The exchange had not added equivalent wording to its public announcement as of Aug. 16.

Sun also said “HTX does not conduct business in the UK or EU.” That statement should be treated as HTX’s position. The UK Financial Conduct Authority said in February that HTX had stopped new UK users from registering after proceedings began, but existing users could still log in and access promotions. The FCA continues to list HTX as unauthorized.

HTX’s UK settlement talks are confirmed by court records

One part of Sun’s statement can be independently verified in Britain. A June 25 High Court order extended a stay in the FCA’s case against Huobi Global for another two months so the parties could try to settle the dispute. The regulator sued in October 2025 over alleged unlawful crypto promotions to UK consumers.

As crypto.news reported, HTX and the FCA entered settlement talks over the crypto marketing lawsuit. The talks are separate from sanctions. Sun also says negotiations are underway with EU regulators, but no separate official EU settlement announcement was identified in the materials reviewed.

UK and EU sanctions remain separate from the FCA case

Britain designated Huobi Global S.A. on May 26 under its Russia sanctions regime. The measures include an asset freeze and restrictions on correspondent banking and payment processing. The UK said it had reasonable grounds to suspect Huobi Global provided financial services or resources to A7 LLC and Garantex Europe OU.

HTX previously argued that Huobi Global was legally separate from the online exchange. UK sanctions authorities rejected that distinction for enforcement purposes. OFSI guidance states that it considers HTX subject to UK financial sanctions because it is owned by Huobi Global. The EU separately placed HTX on its transaction-ban list in July, as previously reported.

What happens next

The compliance response is spreading beyond Binance. Bitget announced on Aug. 15 that it will apply additional controls to the same eleven entities from Aug. 23. Direct or indirect transactions can face review or rejection, while related accounts may be restricted during compliance checks.

For HTX users, Aug. 23 is the next confirmed deadline under the EU framework and the restrictions announced by Binance and Bitget. Sun said affected users can contact HTX customer support and that the exchange will coordinate a resolution. That is an HTX commitment, not a guarantee that Binance, Bitget or regulators will release any transaction or wallet placed under compliance review.