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Kraken parent Payward weighs becoming a full bank outside the U.S.
Payward said it is targeting payments, lending, yield, and custody, while it still cannot lend customers' fiat and is not FDIC insured.
Payward, the parent company of the crypto exchange Kraken, is exploring ways to add traditional banking services outside the United States as it expands beyond crypto trading into broader financial infrastructure, The Block reports.
During the Wyoming Blockchain Symposium 2026, Payward and Kraken co-CEO Dave Ripley said the firm is looking into becoming a full bank in other geographies, likely not in the U.S. immediately, and is focusing on three product areas: trading, banking, and asset management.
Ripley described banking as including payments and money movement, lending, yield, and custody, adding that Kraken Financial currently does those four things, but it still cannot lend customers' fiat and is not insured by the FDIC.
The Block also notes that Kraken Financial earlier this year won a limited-purpose Federal Reserve “skinny” master account, a step that allowed it to connect to parts of the central bank payment system, and Ripley said that conventional banking status elsewhere could help Payward offer more products to more customers.