Hey, it’s Marc,

For 110 years, direct access to Fedwire was the exclusive privilege of chartered commercial banks.

Today, a crypto exchange broke that streak. Kraken Financial just became the first digital asset bank in U.S. history to receive a Federal Reserve master account.

The implications run far deeper than faster deposits. [RELEASE]

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What happened

The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City granted Kraken Financial a Tier 3 skinny master account, giving it direct access to Fedwire, the interbank payment system that moves ~$4 trillion daily. Kraken applied in 2020. It took 5.5 years, two administrations, and what the company calls “sustained regulatory engagement” to get here. (RELEASE)

After a 5.5-year battle, Kraken Financial, operating under Wyoming’s Special Purpose Depository Institution (SPDI) framework, now has direct access to Fedwire.