Key points to remember
- Kraken Bank is set to launch soon, according to Kraken Chief Legal Officer Marco Santori.
- Kraken initially obtained its banking charter approval in 2020.
- The fully online bank will provide “comprehensive custody, custody and trust services for digital assets.”
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The crypto industry may be suffering from a regulatory crackdown in the US, but that’s not stopping Kraken from looking to launch its own bank.
Kraken Bank
The current regulatory climate does not scare Kraken.
The crypto exchange’s chief legal officer, Marco Santori, confirmed on The Scoop podcast that Kraken will soon be launching its own bank. “Kraken Bank is on track to launch, very soon,” he said. “We’re going to have these pens with the little ball chains. We’re going to order thousands of them and strap them all over the offices of the Wall Street banks. With our logo.
Kraken originally obtained approval from the State of Wyoming to establish a Special Purpose Depository Institution (SPDI) in 2020. According to the company, Kraken Bank was the “first digital asset company in the history of the states United States to receive a banking charter recognized by federal and state law,” and will be the first regulated U.S. bank to provide “comprehensive custodial, custodial, and trust services for digital assets.”
Kraken Bank, headquartered in Cheyenne, was originally slated to launch in 2021, then in stages through 2022. Santori’s comments suggest that, despite setbacks and delays, Kraken Bank could finally be within reach. The bank said its services would be rolled out to existing US-based Kraken customers first, with potential international expansion in the future. The bank does not plan to provide in-person services, but to maintain all operations online and via mobile devices.
Santori also addressed the regulatory crackdown the crypto industry is currently facing in the United States. Kraken recently reached a $30 million settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission over its staking program, which it was ordered to shut down in the United States. Crypto executives have also accused the government of trying to cut the crypto industry off from the banking sector through pressure. on the banks themselves.
“We’re going back to a time when banks are going to be very careful about the accounts they open,” Santori said. “Wall Street will be fine. Kraken and Coinbase will be fine. But the guy or the girl who has a new idea on how to provide infrastructure to the crypto economy, it will be a very difficult road for them in the next few months. years. No question.”
Disclaimer: At the time of writing this article, the author of this article owned BTC, ETH, and several other crypto assets.