Kraken becomes first crypto company to secure Fed master account access: WSJ

• Kraken has secured a Federal Reserve "master account," giving its banking arm direct access to the Fed's core payment systems and allowing it to settle payments itself.
• The approval lets Kraken speed up deposits and withdrawals for large traders and institutional clients, but is limited, with Kraken not earning interest on reserves or accessing the Fed's emergency lending.
• The move is part of Kraken's efforts to expand its operations and move towards a potential initial public offering (IPO), following in the footsteps of other crypto firms like Coinbase and Gemini.

Kraken has secured a Federal Reserve “master account,” giving its banking arm direct access to the Fed’s core payment systems and making it the first crypto firm to operate on the same rails as traditional financial institutions.

The company said its unit, Kraken Financial, received approval for a Federal Reserve “master account,” the Wall Street Journal first reported. The account provides direct access to Fedwire, a major interbank payment network that processes trillions of dollars in transfers each day.

Until now, Kraken had to rely on partner banks to send or receive U.S. dollars. Direct access changes that flow as the firm can now settle payments itself, which may speed up deposits and withdrawals for large traders and institutional clients.

“This approval is a watershed moment for the digital asset industry,”U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis said in a press release.

“The Federal Reserve has acknowledged what I’ve always said was the case — that a digital asset company can balance innovation with strong risk management,” she added. “[This] is going to create the 21st century financial services industry."

Kraken Financial operates under a Wyoming charter designed for crypto-focused banks. The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City oversaw the application.

“This news has been a long time coming, but Wyoming welcomes it nonetheless,” said Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon. “This approval of a master account for Kraken by the Federal Reserve signals support for Wyoming’s banking and digital asset laws."

The approval is limited, however. Kraken will not receive the full set of services available to traditional banks, as it won’t earn interest on reserves or tap the Fed’s emergency lending.

Kraken, a cryptocurrency exchange founded in 2011, has been slowly moving towards an initial public offering (IPO). Several of its rivals, including Gemini, Coinbase, and CoinDesk’s parent company Bullish, have already made their public market debut.

Its parent company, Payward, has been on an acquisition spree, adding the token management platform Magna last month. Last year, it acquired U.S. futures trading platform NinjaTrader for $1.5 billion and U.S.-licensed derivatives trading venue Small Exchange for $100 million.

It also moved into the tokenization space with the acquisition of tokenized stock specialist Backed Finance, the issuer of xStocks.

UPDATE (March 4, 3:55pm UTC): Adds comments from Cynthia Lummis' press release.

• Disrupting a Stagnant Market: Pudgy Penguins is utilizing a "Negative CAC" model to challenge the traditional $31.7B licensed toy industry by treating physical merchandise as a profitable user acquisition tool rather than just a final product.

• Jaffe handled strategic communications at Binance during a period at the exchange which saw regulatory challenges against a backdrop of rapid growth.
• KAST has made over 300 hires in the past year across engineering, product and compliance.

Disclosure & Polices: CoinDesk is an award-winning media outlet that covers the cryptocurrency industry. Its journalists abide by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk has adopted a set of principles aimed at ensuring the integrity, editorial independence and freedom from bias of its publications. CoinDesk is part of Bullish (NYSE:BLSH), an institutionally focused global digital asset platform that provides market infrastructure and information services. Bullish owns and invests in digital asset businesses and digital assets and CoinDesk employees, including journalists, may receive Bullish equity-based compensation.