Kraken parent company Payward acquires Magic Labs' embedded wallet business as firm rebrands to Newton Labs

Payward, the parent company of Kraken, has agreed to acquire Magic Labs' embedded wallet business in an asset sale. Following the transaction, Magic Labs will rebrand as Newton Labs to focus exclusively on the Newton Protocol, an authorization layer for onchain finance that entered mainnet beta in June 2026. Meanwhile, the acquisition marks another expansion step for Payward, which recently acquired Bitnomial for up to $550 million and Reap Technologies for $600 million.

Payward acquires embedded wallet business

• ▪Payward, the parent company of cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, agreed to acquire the embedded wallet business of Magic Labs in an asset sale.
• ▪Magic Labs has created more than 60 million wallets since its founding in 2018 and supports over 200,000 developers.
• ▪Magic Labs and Payward will remain separate, independent companies following the close of the transaction, with wallet customers transitioning to Payward Services.

Magic Labs becomes Newton Labs

• ▪Newton Labs will focus exclusively on developing the Newton Protocol, an authorization layer for onchain finance.
• ▪Magic Labs is rebranding to Newton Labs as part of a broader restructuring.

Newton Protocol authorization layer

• ▪The Newton Protocol is designed to enforce compliance, security, and risk policies before transactions settle onchain, and entered mainnet beta in June 2026.
• ▪The Newton Protocol authorization layer will extend to real-world assets, stablecoins, and agentic commerce and finance.

VaultKit institutional compliance product

• ▪Newton Labs' first product built on Newton Protocol is VaultKit, a composable set of policies for institutional-grade vaults.
• ▪VaultKit allows institutional-grade vaults to enforce compliance, security, identity, and risk logic inside transactions before settlement.

Payward's acquisition expansion strategy

• ▪Payward completed its acquisition of CFTC-licensed derivatives exchange Bitnomial in May 2026 for up to $550 million in cash and stock.
• ▪Payward agreed to a $600 million deal to acquire Hong Kong-based stablecoin payments firm Reap Technologies.
• ▪Payward acquired retail futures platform NinjaTrader for $1.5 billion in 2025.

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