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San Francisco, June 26 EST: Kraken, the crypto exchange known more for its trading terminals than for consumer apps, is making a deliberate pivot. On Wednesday, the company launched Krak, a peer-to-peer payments app that puts it in direct competition with entrenched players like PayPal, Venmo, and Cash App.
The app is now available in over 110 countries and supports more than 300 assets, from cryptocurrencies and stablecoins to fiat currencies. But this isn’t a crypto flex — it’s Kraken testing whether it can build the kind of global financial infrastructure that PayPal once promised, but never fully delivered.
A Payments Play Rooted in Real Utility
At the center of Krak’s pitch is utility: fast, borderless payments that don’t rely on the aging rails of legacy banking. Users get two buckets — a “spend” account and an “earn” account. The latter pays 4.1% APR on USDG, Kraken’s U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin, and up to 10% on other digital assets.
Krak also introduces Kraktag, a personalized handle for sending and receiving funds — no more wallet strings or bank details. It’s a small feature, but one designed to pull the app out of crypto’s technical weeds and into the space occupied by mainstream fintech.
Co-CEO Arjun Sethi called the app a “natural extension” of Kraken’s infrastructure, telling Reuters that it gives users a way to “do more with their money.”
Not Just Another Wallet
Kraken’s been laying the groundwork for this move for years. It holds a long list of money transmitter licenses and already supports regulated trading across the U.S., Europe, and Asia. That gives Krak something most fintech apps don’t have — the legal clearance to operate globally, and the rails to move money without asking a bank for permission.
That’s a quiet but powerful advantage. Peer-to-peer transfers through Krak settle almost instantly, even across borders, without the delays and fees of the traditional system. It’s not just a slick interface — it’s a backend overhaul of how value moves.
The app’s infrastructure taps into Kraken’s exchange, offering liquidity that most neobanks can’t touch. It doesn’t just sit on top of the banking system — it circumvents it.
Building Toward a Broader Financial Stack
Krak is part of something bigger: Kraken’s shift from an exchange to a full-service financial platform. The company recently acquired NinjaTrader, expanding into derivatives, and it’s preparing to roll out xStocks, its tokenized equities product.
Next up are physical and virtual debit cards — which will let users spend crypto or fiat directly from the app — and a slate of lending and credit tools. The goal isn’t just to move money, but to compete on financial services, not just trading volume.
That’s a familiar arc in fintech. Coinbase has tried it. So have Block and Robinhood. What sets Kraken apart is that it’s not chasing trends — it’s building a foundation. Its products work together because they were designed that way.
Trust, Not Hype
Still, Kraken faces real challenges. It’s launching a consumer product in an environment where trust in crypto platforms remains fragile. It lacks the brand familiarity of PayPal, and for all its regulatory prep, it still operates in a space where rules shift quickly and often.
There’s also execution risk. Becoming a consumer finance app means dealing with fraud, compliance, customer service, and user behavior at scale — things that trading platforms rarely have to master.
But if Kraken can make it work, it won’t just be the exchange that traders use. It’ll be the app people use to move money, pay bills, and earn interest — without ever needing a traditional bank.
Krak, then, isn’t just a product launch. It’s a test of whether crypto-native companies can finally outgrow the sandbox — and build financial tools that stand on their own.
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