Kraken owner Payward plans to acquire a European bank

Payward Inc., the parent company of the Kraken crypto exchange, wants to own a bank. Specifically, a European one. Co-CEO Arjun Sethi disclosed the plan in an interview with CoinDesk on September 26, 2026. He did not name the target. What Payward has said, and what it hasn’t The core fact is simple. Payward intends to purchase a bank somewhere in Europe. Almost everything beyond that remains unconfirmed. The bank’s name has not been made public, and neither have the terms of any deal. As of mid-October 2026, no definitive agreement had been announced. Any transaction would also need regulatory approval before it could close. There is one strong hint about where Payward may be looking. Bloomberg reported in July 2026 that the company was in talks to buy a bank in Lithuania. Payward has not confirmed that Lithuania is the destination. Still, the reporting lines up neatly with Sethi’s later comments about a European purchase. A Lithuanian bank could let Payward lean on that country’s regulatory framework. That, in turn, could help the company build out its operations across the European Economic Area. A year of very large shopping receipts The bank plan does not come out of nowhere. P...