Kraken's Payward Agrees to Acquire Lithuania's Saldo Bank for EU Banking Licence

Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, has agreed to acquire Lithuania-based Saldo Bank in a deal that would hand it a European Union banking licence and make it the first cryptocurrency firm to purchase a European bank. The transaction price was not disclosed. Saldo Bank held 163.9 million euros in total assets at the end of 2025, a figure 22.7% higher than the prior year, and carries licences in Lithuania, Finland, Sweden, and Germany, along with a passport to operate in the Netherlands.

The acquisition would allow Payward to offer EU customers interest-bearing deposits, consumer and business loans, card services, and euro payments, extending its footprint well beyond cryptocurrency trading. Co-CEO Arjun Sethi framed the rationale directly: a regulated EU bank is the piece that enables Payward to serve European clients as a primary financial institution, giving them one place to hold assets, move them freely, and put them to work. Payward’s existing banking operation has already originated more than two billion dollars in loans and holds both a Federal Reserve limited-purpose master account and an electronic money institution licence in Ireland.

The deal is conditional on regulatory approval and is not expected to close until 2027, so its operational consequences remain some way off. The move fits a broader pattern of crypto-native firms pressing into licensed deposit-taking and lending activity. CoinDesk reported in July that Kraken had been seeking a Lithuanian banking licence, and Payward has simultaneously applied for a national trust bank charter in the United States. The 2027 closing timeline means regulators in Lithuania and potentially peer EU authorities will have extended scope to scrutinise the acquirer’s governance and risk profile before the licence transfers.