Kraken has extended its partnership with ClearBank as the digital assets platform pushes forward with its UK expansion ambitions.
As part of the agreement, ClearBank will provide Kraken’s UK-based clients with GBP clearing services, aiming to enable seamless on-and-off ramps into the digital exchange ecosystem.
Following Kraken’s UK expansion, the exchange has highlighted that maintaining a reliant, instant fiat payments rail has been a challenge, which it asserts has been a hurdle in digital asset adoption amongst institutional investors.
Kaushik Sthankiya, Global Head of Banking Payments at Kraken, said: “To unleash the potential of cryptocurrency and drive mainstream adoption, the underlying banking infrastructure must be robust.”
With this issue in mind, ClearBank plans to use its direct membership of the Faster Payments Service (FPS) and its virtual International Bank Account Numbers (vIBANs) offering to resolve this problem.
Sthankiya described ClearBank’s cloud-based API technology as “battle-tested”, and highlighted the company’s commitment to innovation.
He added: “Together, we will deliver a seamless, scalable, and secure platform for all our clients to not only access and transact but also thrive within the crypto economy.”
A second facet to the partnership
Kraken’s legal entity, Payment Services Ltd., obtained an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) licence from the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) last month. The exchange has named ClearBank as its primary UK bank, seeking to help the entity scale its licence.
John Salter, Chief Customer Officer at ClearBank, commented: “The partnership with Kraken is a demonstration of our ability to provide account and payments services across both the UK and Europe.
“We now work with some of the largest companies and exchanges in the market, and with Kraken, we are pleased to further grow our presence in the rapidly expanding world of digital assets.
“Both ClearBank and Kraken are culturally aligned and have similar ambitious long-term growth plans, and we look forward to working with them to provide a range of new products and services to further delight their customers.”
