In a first for the European crypto industry, Kraken’s parent company Payward has agreed to acquire Lithuania’s Saldo Bank, making it the first cryptocurrency firm to buy a European lender. The deal, announced October 14 and confirmed by the Financial Times, Bloomberg and Fortune, hands the exchange group a fully licensed EU bank — and a direct path into the continent’s regulated financial system.
CoinDesk reported that Payward is targeting an EU banking license through the acquisition of the 190-million-USD-asset bank, a structure that would let Kraken offer banking services across the bloc without waiting years for a new license application to clear.
What Payward is buying
Saldo Bank is a Lithuania-based digital lender with approximately 190 million USD in assets, according to CoinDesk’s report on the transaction. By acquiring an existing licensed institution rather than applying for a new banking license, Payward sidesteps one of the slowest processes in European finance — bank licensing can take years, and approval is never guaranteed.
The purchase, once completed, would make Payward the first crypto company to own a European bank outright. That is a categorically different position from holding payment institution registrations or crypto-specific licenses under the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets framework. A banking license brings deposit-taking capabilities, access to central bank payment rails and the ability to operate as a full-service lender inside the single market.
Neither company disclosed the purchase price in the initial announcements, and the deal remains subject to regulatory approval — a step that observers expect the European Central Bank and Lithuanian authorities to scrutinize closely.
Why a crypto exchange wants a bank
The logic behind the acquisition mirrors a broader trend: crypto firms are buying their way into the regulated financial system rather than building alongside it. For Kraken, an EU bank charter could enable euro-denominated banking services integrated with its exchange — accounts, payments, and potentially custody services operating under a single regulated roof.
It also consolidates Kraken’s European position. The exchange already operates under MiCA licenses across several EU states, and a Lithuanian banking subsidiary gives it a foothold in one of the bloc’s most fintech-friendly jurisdictions. Lithuania has become a notable hub for digital finance, and its regulators have experience supervising electronically delivered banking services.
For traditional finance, the deal reverses the usual direction of convergence. Until now, the pattern ran one way — banks building crypto desks or buying digital-asset firms. A crypto company acquiring a bank flips that script and signals how far the industry’s ambitions have moved beyond trading.
A competitive scramble for banking rails
Payward is not alone in pursuing banking credentials. Circle, the issuer of the USDC stablecoin, secured a United States federal banking charter in July, and Deutsche Bank said this week that its crypto custody launch is weeks away. Across the industry, the race to hold banking licenses reflects a shared bet: that the next phase of crypto adoption depends on embedding digital assets inside regulated money movement, not trading venues standing apart from it.
The Kraken deal, however, is the most aggressive European move yet. Owning a bank gives Payward optionality that licensing arrangements cannot — from payment processing to lending against crypto collateral — all under prudential supervision that may reassure institutional clients who have stayed away from unregulated venues.
What to watch next
The deal’s completion hinges on regulatory clearance, and both the timeline and conditions remain open questions. European regulators have grown more comfortable with crypto under MiCA, but a crypto firm buying a deposit-taking bank is uncharted territory, and supervisors will likely impose conditions on capital, governance and money-laundering controls.
Existing Saldo customers also face a period of adjustment. Payward has signalled that the bank will continue operating as a licensed lender during any transition, but integration with Kraken’s European operations — shared compliance, treasury and product roadmaps — will take time to execute. How smoothly that merger proceeds will shape perceptions of bank-plus-crypto combinations for years.
If approved, expect the structure to be studied closely by every major exchange with European ambitions. A template that works for Kraken in Lithuania will be replicated elsewhere — and the line between crypto exchanges and banks, already blurring, will fade further.
For now, the message from the industry is unmistakable: crypto’s largest firms no longer see themselves as parallel financial systems. They want to be banks.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment or legal advice. Always do your own research before making any financial decisions.
buying a 190M asset bank instead of applying for a license from scratch is such an obvious move in hindsight. years of ECB paperwork vs one acquisition. every major exchange is gonna copy this template within 18 months
copy yes, but good luck finding small licensed banks willing to sell. saldo is 190M in assets, that is a rounding error for kraken. the bottleneck wont be demand, itll be sellers and regulators
watch the ECB load this thing up with capital and governance conditions until the acquisition barely makes sense. approving it and approving it on workable terms are two very different things
disagree, supervisors have every incentive to say yes quietly under MiCA. rejecting the first crypto-bank deal ever would make the EU look hostile to the exact convergence they spent 3 years legislating for
conditions are the whole game tho. if the ECB caps what saldo is allowed to do for kraken clients its a bank license with handcuffs attached, looks great on a slide and changes nothing
first crypto company to own a european bank and the price wasnt even disclosed. classic
saldo is 190M in assets, kraken probably spends close to that on legal in a bad year. the nondisclosure feels more about not setting a public price other small EU banks can anchor to
the copycat prediction is the fun part. there are maybe a dozen small EU banks actually willing to sell, and the first mover just bought the cheapest licensed one