Kraken's Payward to Buy Lithuania's Saldo Bank — SkimNews
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- Payward, parent of crypto exchange Kraken, is acquiring Lithuania-based Saldo Bank in an undisclosed deal expected to close in 2027, expanding into EU lending and card issuing
- Saldo Bank received its EU banking license in 2021 and offers consumer and business loans as well as term deposits; Payward becomes the first digital asset company to buy a bank in Europe, per the Financial Times
- Payward co-CEO Arjun Sethi told the FT the plan is to unify cash, crypto, tokenized stocks, and credit in one system so customers can borrow and lend against assets without selling them
- Payward applied in May for a national trust company charter from the U.S. OCC; the Independent Community Bankers of America is now suing the OCC, arguing such crypto charters exceed its authority
- The Saldo deal follows Payward's $550 million acquisition of derivatives exchange Bitnomial in April and its $600 million purchase of Asian stablecoin payments firm Reap Technologies in May
- Kraken filed confidentially for an IPO last November but has pushed the listing back to the second quarter of 2027 at the earliest, per CoinDesk
- ICBA President and CEO Rebecca Romero Rainey said any non-fiduciary firm seeking a federal bank charter "should meet the same standards as community banks"; an OCC spokesperson declined to comment
Why it matters: Payward is the first digital asset company to acquire an EU-licensed bank, giving Kraken a regulated entry point to offer integrated cash, crypto, lending, and card products to European customers — a structural advantage U.S. crypto firms cannot easily replicate while community banks litigate the OCC's trust charter approvals.
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