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Crypto exchange Kraken is stepping into the global payments space with the launch of a new app, Krak, which lets users send and receive money across 110 countries using both crypto and traditional currencies.
The app news was announced Thursday and it is Kraken’s latest push beyond its core trading business and puts it in closer competition with mainstream players like PayPal, Venmo, and CashApp.
Krak supports transfers in more than 300 assets, including major cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, and local fiat currencies. According to the company, users won’t need to enter bank details or wallet addresses — payments can be sent instantly with minimal friction. Crypto transfers will settle on-chain, while fiat transactions will move internally within Kraken’s system, avoiding external banking networks.
“We’ve spent over a decade building out the infrastructure needed for global money movement,” Kraken co-CEO Arjun Sethi told Reuters. “What we realized is our customers wanted to do more with their money, not just trade it.”
Kraken says it’s using that existing licensing and payment network to streamline cross-border transfers. Users will get access to a dedicated spend account and can also earn yield on balances. Rewards start at 4.1% for USDG, the dollar-pegged token from the Global Dollar Network, and go up to 10% on other digital assets.
“We built Krak to fix what’s broken with traditional finance,” said Mark Greenberg, Kraken’s head of consumer products. “Moving money, earning on it, or sending it across borders shouldn’t be this hard — crypto helps solve that.”
Krak’s roadmap includes future features like virtual and physical cards, as well as pay-ahead services like loans.
The launch comes as U.S. crypto firms race to diversify their offerings amid growing interest in using digital assets for everyday financial tools — not just speculative trading. Earlier this year, Kraken announced plans to roll out tokenized versions of U.S. equities for clients outside the U.S.
Whether it’s payments, yield, or investing, crypto exchanges are increasingly building around the full financial picture — and Krak is Kraken’s latest step in that direction. Just yesterday, the exchange said on Wednesday that it received its MiCA license from the Central Bank of Ireland, allowing the platform to offer regulated services in all 30 EEA member states.
The license builds on Kraken’s previous approvals under the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID), granted in February, and an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) license obtained in 2023.
