Kraken parent Payward wins $22 million arbitration award against Mazars

Kraken parent Payward Inc. is seeking a final judgment in the Delaware Court of Chancery after an arbitrator awarded it $22 million over Mazars USA’s withdrawal from a nearly completed audit. Co-CEO Arjun Sethi said Mazars had audited Kraken’s financials for three years and issued two clean opinions before quitting days before completion in December 2023, while confirming it had no disagreement with management, no concerns about the company’s integrity and no findings of fraud. Sethi said Mazars cited legal uncertainty, including the SEC’s then-pending case against Kraken, and argued the firm had been pressured to leave an industry that had become politically costly to serve. He cast the dispute as part of what crypto advocates call Operation Choke Point 2.0, a period of alleged pressure on banks, auditors and other service providers to distance themselves from digital-asset firms. Sethi also used the filing to press for passage of the CLARITY Act, which would create federal market-structure rules for digital assets and clarify oversight between regulators. The SEC’s case against Kraken was dismissed with prejudice, with no penalties, no admission of wrongdoing and no required changes to Kraken’s business.