Kraken Parent Company Payward to Buy Saldo Bank in European Banking Push
Bitcoin Magazine Kraken Parent Company Payward to Buy Saldo Bank in European Banking Push Top crypto exchange Kraken is pushing to offer other services other than digital assets. This post Kraken Pa...
Top crypto exchange Kraken is pushing to offer other services other than digital assets.
Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Saldo Bank, gaining an EU banking license and a footprint across five European markets.
Payward is buying Saldo Finance Oy, a Finnish holding company whose subsidiary, Saldo Bank UAB, is a digital-first specialized bank licensed in Lithuania. The bank operates in Lithuania, Finland, Sweden and Germany, with a passport into the Netherlands.
Payward did not reveal the financial terms of the deal, which is expected to close in 2027, subject to regulatory approvals.
It comes as Kraken, like other crypto exchanges, pushes further into the traditional finance world, allowing users to trade stocks, bonds and other assets. The company has sold its app as a “primary account for everything.”
“A regulated EU bank is the piece that lets us serve European clients the way a primary financial institution should: one place to hold assets, move them freely, and put them to work,” said Arjun Sethi, Payward’s co-CEO. “We are starting in the EU, and the ambition is global.”
Payward said that once completed, the acquisition is expected to let Payward Banking offer interest on deposits, SME and consumer loans, credit cards, and banking-as-a-service tools such as card issuance, SEPA payments access and embedded lending for partners.
Saldo already offers retail term deposits in all four of its operating markets, consumer lending in Lithuania, Finland and Sweden, and a credit card in Finland.
Payward says it already holds a Federal Reserve limited-purpose master account in the U.S. and an e-money license from the Central Bank of Ireland, and has originated more than $2 billion in loans.
The deal comes shortly after Payward this week announced plans to launch in the UAE following full approval from Dubai’s Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority.
In September, Bloomberg reported that Nasdaq Inc. was investing $100 million in Payward at a $21 billion valuation, citing people familiar with the matter. Payward and SoFi Technologies also recently agreed to route SoFi customers’ crypto orders through Kraken Prime, Kraken’s prime brokerage arm.
Asanat Analysis — Why it matters
Payward's acquisition of Saldo Bank signals an escalation in Kraken's multi-year strategy to embed crypto services within traditional banking infrastructure rather than remain a pure exchange. This follows regulatory pressure across Europe (MiCA, PSD2) that incentivizes crypto platforms to obtain banking licenses rather than rely on third-party banking relationships. Owning a bank provides Kraken direct control over rails for fiat on/off-ramps, custody, and staking services—reducing counterparty risk with correspondent banks that have historically been reluctant to service crypto firms.
The move carries second-order implications: it normalizes the crypto-banking hybrid model (similar to Coinbase's approach post-2023), pressures unregulated competitors to formalize, and signals that European regulators may now prefer licensed crypto firms as consolidating forces. Saldo's existing deposit base and regulatory standing accelerate Kraken's time-to-market for full-stack services. However, integrating legacy banking operations with crypto infrastructure remains operationally complex; execution risk remains material.
This reflects a sector-wide pivot from 'disruption' framing toward regulatory capture and institutional legitimacy. Profitable exchanges increasingly fund banking licenses as a moat rather than a constraint.