key takeaways
- Kraken Bank is on track to launch soon, according to Kraken legal director Marco Santori.
- Kraken originally won its bank charter approval in 2020.
- The fully online bank will provide “comprehensive deposit-taking, custody and trustee 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.
crack bank
The current regulatory climate does not scare Kraken.
The legal director of the cryptocurrency exchange, Marco Santori, confirmed on The Scoop podcast that Kraken would soon launch its own bank. “Kraken Bank is on track to launch, very soon,” he stated. “We’re going to have those pens with the little ball chains. We’re going to order thousands of them and put them on the desks of Wall Street banks everywhere. With our logo.
Kraken initially obtained approval from the State of Wyoming to form a Special Purpose Depository Institution (SPDI) in 2020. According to the company, Kraken Bank was the “first digital asset company in US history to receive a banking statute recognized by federal and state law,” and will be the first regulated US bank to provide “comprehensive deposit-taking, custody, and trustee services for digital assets.”
Cheyenne-based Kraken Bank was originally scheduled to launch in 2021 and then in phases through 2022. Santori’s comments suggest that despite setbacks and delays, Kraken Bank may finally be within reach. The bank indicated that its services would first be extended to existing Kraken customers in the US, with possible international expansion in the future. The bank does not plan to provide services in person, but to keep all operations online and through mobile devices.
Santori also addressed the regulatory crackdown currently facing the crypto industry in the United States. Kraken recently reached a $30 million settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission over its staking program, which has been ordered shut down in the US. Crypto leaders have also accused the government of trying to separate the crypto industry from the banking industry. exerting pressure. in the banks themselves.
“We are returning to an era where banks are going to be very cautious about what accounts they open,” Santori said. “Wall Street is going to be fine. Kraken and Coinbase are going to be fine. But the guy or the girl who has a new idea about how to provide infrastructure for the crypto economy, it’s going to be a really tough road in the next few years for them. No doubt.”
Disclaimer: At the time of writing, the author of this article owned BTC, ETH, and various other crypto assets.
