Image Credit: Kraken
Payward has agreed to acquire Magic Labs’ wallet-as-a-service business, adding noncustodial wallet infrastructure to the enterprise platform operated by Kraken’s parent company.
The deal will let Payward Services offer trading, custody, tokenized assets, fiat access, derivatives and embedded wallets through one integration. Financial terms were not disclosed, and the transaction is expected to close within weeks after customary conditions are met.
Magic Technology Has Powered More Than 60M Wallets
Magic Labs provides infrastructure that lets businesses create and manage wallets inside their own apps. Its stack combines trusted execution environment-based transaction signing, an integration layer and a software development kit.
The company says its technology has powered more than 60 million wallets, processed more than $10 billion in stablecoin volume and served more than 200,000 developers since its launch in 2018.
The wallets are noncustodial, meaning users or applications retain control of the assets rather than handing custody to Payward. Businesses can use the technology to add account creation, authentication, transaction signing and on-chain automation without building those systems internally.
Wallet Customers Will Move to Payward Services
The acquisition is structured as an asset sale rather than a purchase of Magic Labs as a whole. Existing wallet customers will transition to Payward Services after the deal closes.
Payward and the remaining Magic business will continue as separate companies. The companies have not disclosed whether employees will transfer with the business or how long customer migration will take.
Payward Will Add Embedded Wallets to its B2B Platform
Payward plans to integrate the wallet technology into its business-to-business platform. Enterprise clients will be able to combine self-custody products with Payward’s existing exchange, custody, settlement and on-ramp services.
That structure could reduce the need for companies to work with several infrastructure providers when adding wallet access to financial products. The acquisition gives Payward embedded wallet creation and signing capabilities alongside its existing crypto and financial infrastructure.
Magic Labs Will Focus on Newton Protocol
Magic Labs has rebranded as Newton Labs and will focus on Newton Protocol, an authorization layer for on-chain finance. The system applies identity, compliance, security and risk policies before transactions settle and records the results on-chain.
Newton Protocol entered mainnet beta in June. Newton Labs is also developing VaultKit, a policy system for institutional vaults, with planned use across tokenized assets, stablecoins and automated financial applications.
Deal Closing and Customer Migration Remain Pending
For Payward, the deal adds wallet infrastructure to a broader portfolio that includes Kraken, NinjaTrader, xStocks and CF Benchmarks. The next step is closing the transaction and moving Magic’s wallet customers onto Payward Services.
Until the deal closes, the companies have not disclosed final migration timing, employee-transfer details or the full enterprise product rollout schedule.
