Wells Fargo is in talks with Kraken's parent company Payward for a potential partnership, possibly leveraging it to expand its crypto trading business.

BlockBeats news, October 12 — Wells Fargo is in talks with Payward, the parent company of crypto trading platform Kraken, to explore having Payward provide liquidity support for the bank's digital asset trading business. The potential partnership would involve Payward supplying market depth and trade execution support, helping Wells Fargo expand its clients' access to crypto asset trading without building a full trading infrastructure from scratch.

Negotiations are still ongoing and no final agreement has been determined. Both parties declined to comment. Wells Fargo has previously offered spot Bitcoin ETFs to eligible wealth management clients and invested in compliance technology company Elliptic and trading platform service provider Talos, while also advancing a blockchain deposit initiative and participating in a U.S. dollar stablecoin-related consortium. In September 2026, Nasdaq announced a $100 million investment in Payward at a valuation of approximately $21 billion, with Wells Fargo serving as the exclusive capital markets advisor for the deal.

In addition, Payward has been reported to be in talks with asset custody and servicing giant BNY for a broader infrastructure partnership, with potential areas of cooperation including digital asset products, custody, wealth management, trading, and payments. Those discussions have also not yet resulted in a final agreement. Payward continues to expand its traditional finance business footprint. The company is also reportedly seeking a European banking license, with Lithuania as its target jurisdiction. In March 2026, Kraken Financial became the first digital asset bank to gain access to the Federal Reserve's payment infrastructure; Payward has also obtained authorization from Dubai's Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority.