Kraken Owner Payward to Buy Lithuania's Saldo Bank in EU Push — SkimNews
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- Payward is acquiring Saldo Bank, an EU-licensed lender based in Lithuania, to expand its financial services into lending and card issuing, becoming the first digital asset company to buy a bank in Europe.
- Arjun Sethi, co-CEO of Payward, said the acquisition will allow customers to borrow and lend against their crypto and tokenized assets without selling them, integrating cash, credit, and digital assets into one system.
- Saldo Bank received its EU banking license in 2021 and offers consumer and business loans as well as term deposits, services Payward plans to integrate with its crypto platform.
- Payward has not disclosed the purchase price for Saldo Bank, and the acquisition is subject to regulatory approvals with an expected closing date in 2027.
- Payward applied in May for a national trust company charter from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, following other crypto firms like Coinbase and Ripple that have received conditional approvals.
- Independent Community Bankers of America sued the OCC this month, arguing that granting bank charters to crypto firms exceeds regulatory authority and demands equal standards for all charter applicants.
Why it matters: Payward gains a regulated EU banking foothold to offer integrated crypto-traditional financial products, while U.S. community banks challenge the legitimacy of crypto firms accessing banking privileges without deposit-taking rights, raising stakes for regulatory clarity in both markets.
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