Payward Accelerates Financial Services Expansion with Krak's US Multi-Asset Debit Card Launch
Kraken's parent company extends its reach into traditional finance as the Krak payment app introduces a crypto-fiat debit card offering cashback rewards for American users.
The US market debut of a multi-asset debit card from Krak, Kraken's payment application, enables American customers to make purchases using both cryptocurrency and traditional currency while receiving cashback rewards of up to 2% in either US dollars or Bitcoin (BTC).
With support for over 600 different currencies and digital assets, the card automatically converts holdings to US dollars when transactions occur. Users can make a single transaction that pulls from various balance sources, and they have the ability to customize the sequence in which their assets are utilized, the company revealed in a Tuesday announcement.
Lead Bank issues the card, which operates on Visa's payment network and utilizes Stripe Issuing technology. Both physical cards and virtual versions are accessible to qualified customers in the United States. According to the company, the percentage of cashback rewards users receive is determined by the average value of assets they maintain across Krak, Kraken and Kraken Pro platforms.
The card is being marketed by Krak as a substitute for traditional credit card rewards programs. According to a Morning Consult survey commissioned by Krak that polled 2,001 American adults, 42% of individuals who use credit cards express concern about their ability to pay off their monthly balance, and 60% of survey participants indicated they would transition to a debit card that provides rewards without requiring them to take on debt.
Since its December 2025 debut in the UK and European Economic Area, Kraken's consumer-focused money and payments application has distributed more than 135,000 multi-asset cards throughout these regions, according to company statements.
Payward eyes broader financial services push
The expansion of Payward's financial services product portfolio has become a central strategic focus for the company.
During Tuesday's Wyoming Blockchain Symposium, Arjun Sethi, Co-CEO of Kraken's parent company, outlined the organization's comprehensive strategy, which encompasses expansion into new asset categories and additional financial service offerings.
As you start expanding into multiple asset classes, you're just generally gonna be less susceptible to very specific markets.
Arjun Sethi, Co-CEO of Payward
Sethi further noted that Payward has begun providing banking services and characterized tokenization as "a large part" of the organization's comprehensive initiative to broaden its financial product offerings.
Drawing comparisons between the company's objectives and those of leading traditional financial services firms, Sethi stated the organization must develop products and services "not too different to a JP Morgan or a financial institution."
These remarks from Sethi arrive at a time when prominent cryptocurrency exchanges are diversifying their operations beyond basic spot cryptocurrency trading, as Coinbase and competing platforms venture into equities trading, derivatives markets, prediction markets, tokenized asset offerings and pre-IPO investment products.
In a separate development announced Tuesday, Kraken initiated trading capabilities for more than 7,000 stocks listed on US exchanges, making these available to its customer base located in the European Economic Area (EEA).