Kraken owner Payward to acquire Lithuania's Saldo Bank

What happened

Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, is acquiring Lithuania-based Saldo Bank as it expands into lending and deposit services across Europe. Payward is the first digital asset company to buy a bank in Europe, according to the Financial Times. Saldo holds an EU banking license issued in 2021 and provides consumer and business loans, term deposits, and payment cards.

Payward co-CEO Arjun Sethi said the plan is to bring cash, crypto, tokenized stocks and credit together in a single system, allowing customers to borrow and lend against their assets without selling them. Saldo operates across Lithuania, Finland, Sweden and Germany, with authorization to extend services to the Netherlands. The deal is expected to close in 2027, subject to regulatory approvals.

The San Francisco-based company, founded in 2011, applied in May for a national trust company charter from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. Such charters let firms hold customer assets and provide transaction services but not take deposits. Coinbase and Ripple have received conditional approval for similar charters.

Why it matters

The Saldo acquisition caps a year of major deals for Payward. It follows the $550 million acquisition of derivatives exchange Bitnomial in April and the $600 million purchase of Asian stablecoin payments firm Reap Technologies in May. Together, these moves signal Payward's shift from pure exchange operator toward a diversified financial services company offering crypto, lending and traditional banking products.

Payward says its existing banking infrastructure includes an Irish EMI license and Federal Reserve access. Saldo brings banking-as-a-service capabilities that allow partners to connect lending products to existing applications, along with automated loan assessments and embedded financing arrangements. These tools position Payward to offer integrated financial services across Europe.

The deal also supports Kraken's path toward public markets. Kraken filed confidentially for an IPO last November but has pushed the listing target to the second quarter of 2027 at the earliest. Adding regulated banking services to Kraken's platform ahead of a public offering could strengthen its competitive position and regulatory standing.

What is still unclear

• The purchase price for Saldo Bank was not disclosed.
• Payward has not announced when individual Saldo products will become available to Kraken customers or which countries will receive them first.

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