Payward and Ledger Partner to Close Gap Between Secure Self-Custody and Global Liquidity

Payward, the parent company of Kraken and the developer of the xStocks* tokenized equities framework, and Ledger, the global leader in digital asset security for individuals and institutions, today announced a strategic partnership to strengthen the connection between secure self-custody and the broader financial infrastructure powering the digital asset economy. Bringing together two companies that have helped define security standards across crypto, the collaboration combines Payward’s trusted trading and market infrastructure with Ledger’s industry-leading self-custody and security infrastructure, enabling customers to access global markets and digital asset services more seamlessly while maintaining full control of their assets.

The integrations share a single principle: the security of holding your own keys should not come at the cost of access. Through this collaboration, Ledger and Payward aim to make it easier for customers to access and interact with crypto offerings across CeFi platforms and onchain ecosystems while maintaining strong personal security practices.

Self-custody and exchange access shouldn’t feel like separate experiences and ecosystems. The investors who care most about controlling their assets are often the same ones who need deep liquidity, trusted market infrastructure, and secure access to the broader financial system. By partnering with Ledger, we’re building where the industry is heading: a future where secure self-custody and global financial infrastructure work hand in hand to provide powerful and seamless trading experiences.

David Ripley, Co-CEO of Payward.

Ledger brings the hardware-enforced security infrastructure that the entire digital asset ecosystem depends on — securing not just value, but access itself,. Through this partnership, we’re giving retail users and, through Ledger Enterprise, the banks and fintechs building on institutional-grade rails, secure access to Payward’s financial infrastructure, backed by Ledger’s uncompromising security. This is self-custody and global markets working as one, at every scale. 

Pascal Gauthier, Chairman & CEO of Ledger.

Under the partnership, Kraken customers will be able to use their Ledger signer directly within the Kraken experience. Built using Ledger’s Device Management Kit, customers will seamlessly fund and withdraw assets and sign transactions, with full Clear Signing support, using the same device they already trust to secure their value. Each integration is designed to reduce friction while strengthening security, allowing customers to move assets seamlessly between self-custody and Kraken’s platform with greater confidence and convenience.

In parallel, Payward Services, Payward’s B2B infrastructure platform, will become an embedded buy, sell, and swap provider inside Ledger’s Wallet, beginning with debit card and bank transfer support across Europe and the UK, with expansion to further payment rails and geographies expected over time. For millions of Ledger users, it means they can buy, sell and move crypto with Payward while keeping control of their keys.

This partnership lays the foundation for an ongoing collaboration between the two companies. Ledger and Payward are working together to integrate xStocks*, Payward’s industry-leading tokenized equities offering, more deeply across Ledger Wallet to allow users to access US and international equities markets onchain. xStocks* has already surpassed $42 billion in total transaction volume, and the integration will let Ledger customers around the world buy, sell, and transact hundreds of tokenized equities directly from self-custody. Payward Services will also work with Ledger Enterprise to give Ledger’s growing base of banks, fintechs, and financial institutions access to trading, qualified custody, payments and funding rails through a single integration with Kraken’s exchange infrastructure.

Together, these integrations bring two critical infrastructure layers of the digital asset ecosystem closer together: the hardware-enforced security infrastructure layer that protects customer assets, and the financial infrastructure layer that enables trading, payments, and market access.

About Payward

Payward, Inc. is a unified financial infrastructure platform that powers a family of products advancing an open, global financial system. Built on a single shared architecture, Payward enables customers to hold, trade, earn, pay, and invest across asset classes without friction or fragmentation.

At its core, Payward provides the infrastructure layer behind Kraken and a growing set of purpose-built products, including NinjaTrader, Breakout, xStocks*, and CF Benchmarks.

Payward separates infrastructure from product expression. Each product surface is designed for a specific customer segment, regulatory regime, and use case, while operating on the same global foundation:

• One global liquidity pool
• One unified risk and margin engine
• One collateral and settlement system
• One compliance and licensing framework

This shared architecture allows Payward to scale efficiently, launch new products at low marginal cost, and serve diverse global markets while maintaining consistent risk management, regulatory integrity, and operational resilience.

For more information about Payward, please visit www.payward.com.

LEDGER™, LEDGER WALLET™, LEDGER RECOVER™, LEDGER STAX™, LEDGER FLEX™ and LEDGER NANO™ are trademarks owned by Ledger SAS.

Crypto transaction services are provided by third-party service providers. Ledger provides no advice or recommendations to use any of these third-party services. Rewards are not guaranteed

*xStocks are issued by Backed Assets. xStocks are not available in the US and other restricted jurisdictions. Eligibility details are published by Backed Assets. Ledger is a technology provider and provides no financial or investment advice.