Kraken is launching a mobile app built for the digital-first generation.
Worldwide, 1.4 billion adults still remain “unbanked.” In advanced economies, bank users are battered by fees.
Kraken’s next-gen app, dubbed Krak, wants to tackle these challenges by empowering users to instantly transact across borders for almost no cost while also earning rewards on their account balances, according to a statement from the US fintech giant.
Kraken, which recently shuffled its headquarters to Wyoming based on regional crypto regulations, says Krak supports more than 300 different assets.
“We built and launched the Krak app because the financial system has been stuck in the past, and we think it’s time to do something about it,” says co-CEO Arjun Sethi.
“With Krak, we’re taking a bold step toward rebuilding what we consider to be the most important layer of the global economy: How people move and use money,” he said.
Key features of the app include “instant and affordable” peer-to-peer payments between Krak users and the eventual rollout of physical Krak cards. As for rewards, users can earn up to 4% rewards on USDG stablecoin balances, as well as “additional earning opportunities” up to 10% related to specific assets.
“We believe that basic financial services should be as universal and available as clean water,” stated Sethi, “and that money should move as easily as information does.”
“Krak is just the beginning,” believes Sethi. “We see it as a foundation—A core building block for how people everywhere will manage their money in the future.”
Earlier this year, Kraken secured a Restricted Dealer registration in Canada, marking a milestone in its effort to offer compliant services to Canadian investors.
The approval followed a years-long pre-registration undertaking process. During the PRU process, Kraken doubled both its Canadian team and monthly transacting user base, surpassing $2 billion in client assets under custody.
“Canada is at a turning point for crypto adoption,” Cynthia Del Pozo, Kraken’s General Manager for North America, stated in April. “This registration is a testament to the high bar Kraken has always set for consumer protection, client service, and robust security.”
Kraken’s registration followed that of Coinbase, which became the first international cryptocurrency exchange to be registered in Canada.
Kraken was founded in Silicon Valley in 2011.
Leave a Reply