Payward, the parent company of Kraken, is exploring how to become a full-service bank outside the United States, according to co-CEO Dave Ripley, as the cryptocurrency business expands beyond trading into payments, lending, custody and asset management.
Ripley said the company is considering banking options “likely not the U.S. immediately,” without identifying target countries, regulators or the type of license it may pursue. The approach would build on Payward’s existing regulated operations while seeking the ability to provide a wider set of financial products directly to customers in overseas markets.
The company frames its business around three lines: trading, banking and asset management. Within banking, Ripley listed payments and money movement, lending, yield and custody, saying Payward already offers each of those functions through its current businesses.
A full banking license in another jurisdiction could give Payward more freedom to combine those services under a single regulated entity. That could extend its reach beyond crypto trading accounts and institutional custody into products commonly associated with retail and commercial banks, including lending and potentially mortgages.
Mark Greenberg, Payward’s chief commercial officer, said future offerings could include mortgages. Such products would require the company to navigate consumer-credit rules, capital requirements and local banking supervision that go far beyond the compliance obligations attached to a conventional crypto platform.
Kraken Financial provides a limited U.S. banking foothold
Payward already operates Kraken Financial, a Wyoming-chartered Special Purpose Depository Institution, or SPDI, which began operations in March 2024. The entity can offer digital-asset custody and deposit accounts for institutional clients.
The Wyoming charter gives Kraken Financial a regulated banking structure, but it does not confer the same powers as a conventional commercial bank. The entity cannot lend customers’ fiat deposits, and its accounts do not carry Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. protection.
Those limitations make the overseas licensing search more consequential for Payward’s product ambitions. A conventional bank license, depending on the jurisdiction and its conditions, could permit a broader lending operation and deeper integration with domestic payment networks than the Wyoming SPDI model allows.
Earlier in 2026, Kraken Financial received a limited-purpose Federal Reserve master account, sometimes described as a “skinny” master account. The account allows the company to connect to parts of the Federal Reserve’s payment system and marked a first for a crypto company, according to the information provided by Payward.
A Federal Reserve master account does not turn Kraken Financial into a traditional bank with unrestricted access to every central-bank service. Yet it gives the company a more direct connection to payment infrastructure than a model relying entirely on correspondent banks. For a firm trying to offer money movement alongside digital-asset custody, that access can reduce operational layers between its customers and the banking system.
Europe appears to be a priority market
Co-CEO Arjun Sethi is examining Europe as a potential growth market, according to the company’s plans. Payward has also acquired a permit in Ireland that it says provides a path to offer direct cash services across the European Union’s 27 member states.
The Irish authorization could place Payward in a position to use Europe’s passporting framework, where certain financial permissions issued in one EU country can support services across the bloc. The exact activities allowed would depend on the terms of the permit and the regulatory regime governing the relevant Payward entity.
Europe offers a large and relatively integrated market for firms that can meet local licensing, anti-money-laundering and consumer-protection requirements. It also presents a more complex competitive environment, with established banks, payment companies and crypto businesses all seeking to connect fiat services with digital-asset products.
For Payward, direct cash services would complement its existing crypto operations by making deposits, withdrawals and payments less dependent on outside banking partners. That integration could also make it easier to offer customers a single account experience spanning fiat balances, crypto custody, trading and other financial services.
Funding effort points toward larger expansion plans
Payward is also seeking $500 million in new funding, which would value the company at $15 billion ahead of a planned public listing, according to the information provided. The fundraising effort comes as regulated expansion can demand substantial capital for legal work, technology, compliance teams and balance-sheet requirements.
Banking licenses typically bring obligations that crypto trading businesses do not face at the same scale. Regulators may require minimum capital, liquidity controls, risk management systems, customer-asset safeguards and detailed reporting. Lending products would add credit risk, while mortgages would introduce long-term underwriting and servicing responsibilities.
Those demands help explain why Payward’s push appears focused on building regulated financial infrastructure rather than simply adding another feature to a trading platform. The company already has custody, deposit and payment capabilities through Kraken Financial, while European permissions could create a route for cash services beyond the United States.
Payward’s ability to turn that framework into a full-service banking operation will depend on the jurisdictions it selects and the licenses it ultimately secures. For now, Ripley’s comments indicate that the company is testing a model in which crypto trading sits alongside more familiar financial products, with regulation and payment access becoming as central to its strategy as digital-asset markets themselves.
Want to see how crypto platforms already blend trading with banking-style services? Explore Toobit’s Traditional Finance Guide today.
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