Summary
Krak, Kraken's fintech app affiliate, launched the Krak Card, a US cashback debit card offering up to 2% cash or bitcoin back paid directly as money rather than points. The card lets customers spend directly from 600+ currencies and crypto assets, auto-converting to dollars at the point of purchase and splitting purchases across balances. It puts Krak in direct competition with CashApp, Venmo, SoFi, Robinhood, and Chime. Kraken's strategy is to capture more of each customer's financial life — retaining deposits, driving spending, and keeping assets on-platform.
Key Points
- Krak Card: up to 2% cash or bitcoin back, paid directly as money (not points)
- Reward rate increases based on value of assets held
- Spend from 600+ currencies and crypto assets; auto-convert to dollars at point of purchase
- Users set asset spending order; split a single purchase across multiple balances
- Issued by a partner bank; subject to US debit interchange limits (constrains reward funding from card spend alone)
- Competition: CashApp, Venmo, SoFi, Robinhood, Chime
- Strategy: retain deposits, drive spending, keep assets on platform (beyond interchange revenue)
- Survey: 63% of US adults feel financially behind; 60% would switch to a rewards debit card without debt
- Co-CEO Arjun Sethi: "if you wanted rewards, you had to take on debt... That deal is over"
- Kraken infrastructure: Wyoming bank charter, first crypto company with a Federal Reserve master account
- Kraken's identity: crypto-native (vs Coinbase as gateway to crypto, Robinhood as gateway to investing broadly)
- Rebuilt app adds agentic trading capabilities; expanding retail user base