Kraken’s rising from the decentralized deep to capsize a big ship: traditional finance. The crypto platform launched a peer-to-peer payments app yesterday that lets users instantly send 300+ crypto tokens, stablecoins and fiat currencies to friends and family in more than 100 countries.
Anyone who has had to split a check with new hostel friends knows that rivals Venmo and Zelle only support payments between US users. Kraken’s app, called Krak, also doesn’t charge fees for cross-border payments or transfers from one currency to another, setting it apart from PayPal.
Kraken’s app is meant to serve as an entry point to digital assets for the crypto-cautious, with rewards of up to 10% on Krak account balances to entice new users. Krak is also part of Kraken’s push into traditional finance to diversify revenue ahead of a planned IPO.
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Those are the words of Kraken exec Mark Greenberg as Kraken and other crypto companies try to put their blockchain-backed spins on traditional finance:
At the same time, TradFi isn’t going down without a fight: JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Wells Fargo are reportedly exploring the creation of a joint stablecoin, and brokerages like Morgan Stanley and Charles Schwab are working on adding crypto trading.
Hot Coin Summer: The line between traditional and digital finance has grown blurry in the Trump era as regulatory actions against crypto companies have eased. In March, the SEC dropped a lawsuit accusing Kraken of operating an unregistered securities exchange, following the agency’s abandonment of a similar suit against rival Coinbase. Both sides of the finance world have read the new room and aren’t missing the opportunity to try to eat each other’s lunch.
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