Blockchain and Crypto
Kraken is first cryptocurrency exchange to receive state bank license
- Kraken becomes the digital asset exchange to get a banking license.
- The firm will launch Wyoming-based Kraken Financial.
In a move that may pave the way toward mainstream acceptance for digital assets, an exchange received the first Wyoming banking license granted to a cryptocurrency firm.
What’s going on: The Wyoming Banking Board will issue Kraken, a San Francisco-based crypto exchange, a special purpose depository institution charter.
- Headquartered in Cheyenne, Wyoming, Kraken Financial will enable Kraken clients in the U.S. to bank between digital assets and national currencies.
- Kraken clients will be able to hold digital assets and pay bills and get paid in cryptocurrencies within a regulated, US institution.
- The new institution will be regulated similarly to other US banks, but it is nuanced in its differences.
- The charter doesn’t create a full-fledged bank but is part of a series of laws Wyoming passed to usher in cryptocurrency firms to the state.
- Kraken says it has 4 million users globally.
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