Kraken parent Payward entered a definitive agreement on July 27 to acquire Magic Labs’ wallet-as-a-service business through an asset purchase.
Summary
- Payward will acquire Magic Labs’ wallet business, adding infrastructure that has powered 60 million wallets.
- The wallet platform processed over $10 billion in stablecoin volume for more than 200,000 developers.
- Newton Labs will focus on pre-settlement policy checks after the transaction closes in coming weeks.
The financial terms were not disclosed, and the companies expect the transaction to close within several weeks, subject to customary closing conditions.
The deal covers Magic’s embedded, non-custodial wallet infrastructure rather than the entire company. Magic Labs has rebranded as Newton Labs and will remain independent while concentrating on Newton Protocol, its policy and authorisation system for onchain transactions.
Payward adds embedded wallets to its B2B platform
Payward plans to integrate Magic’s technology into Payward Services, its infrastructure platform for banks, fintech companies, exchanges and onchain applications. The existing platform provides trading, custody, tokenised assets, derivatives and fiat-to-crypto payment services through one integration.
Magic adds a wallet layer to that product range. Its stack combines a trusted execution environment-based signing system, an embedded integration layer and a developer software development kit. Payward said partners will be able to add self-custody wallets without managing several separate infrastructure providers.
The companies describe the wallets as non-custodial, meaning users retain control of their assets rather than placing them directly under Payward’s custody. However, the exact user experience and supported networks may vary between businesses using the infrastructure.
Magic wallet customers will move to Payward Services
Magic’s wallet infrastructure has powered more than 60 million wallets and over $10 billion in stablecoin volume. It has also served more than 200,000 developers since the company began operating in 2018, according to the acquisition announcement.
Newton Labs CEO Sean Li said existing wallet customers would begin receiving service from Payward on August 1. He said current integrations would continue without interruption and customers would not need to take action. The legal completion of the acquisition, however, remains subject to the stated closing conditions.
Magic had previously raised more than $80 million. That total included a $52 million strategic round led by PayPal Ventures in May 2023, with participation from Cherubic, Synchrony, KX, Northzone and Volt Capital.
Newton Labs will concentrate on transaction policies
Newton Labs will now focus on Newton Protocol, which entered mainnet beta on June 23. The protocol checks whether transactions comply with predefined security, identity, compliance and risk rules before they settle onchain. It then generates a cryptographic record of the policy decision.
Its first product, VaultKit, allows decentralised finance vault operators to apply policy checks to management actions. Newton said the software currently supports Ethereum and Base, with integrations involving risk, price and security providers including RedStone, Credora, Webacy and Chainalysis Hexagate.
Newton intends to expand the system beyond vaults to stablecoins, tokenised real-world assets and automated financial agents. Those plans remain company targets rather than completed product launches.
The acquisition extends Payward’s infrastructure push
The Magic agreement follows several acquisitions intended to broaden Payward beyond Kraken’s spot exchange business. As previously reported, Payward completed its purchase of CFTC-regulated derivatives firm Bitnomial in May after announcing a deal worth up to $550 million.
Payward also completed its acquisition of Hong Kong stablecoin payments company Reap in July. In related coverage, the transaction was initially valued at $600 million and added card issuance, cross-border settlement and stablecoin payment infrastructure to Payward Services.
The company previously bought retail futures platform NinjaTrader for $1.5 billion in 2025 and tokenised securities provider Backed Finance for an undisclosed amount. Together, the deals expand Payward’s coverage across trading, wallets, payments, custody, derivatives and tokenised assets.
No verified market reaction accompanied the Magic announcement because Payward and Newton Labs are privately held, while the acquisition does not involve a publicly traded token. The next confirmed steps are completion of the asset purchase, customer migration and integration of Magic’s wallet technology into Payward Services.
