Kraken, reported July 8, 2026, is working to obtain a full banking license in Europe, with Lithuania as its target jurisdiction, a person familiar with the plans said. Payward Ireland Limited currently holds only a passported e-money registration in Lithuania, Bank of Lithuania records show.
Key Takeaways
- Kraken is seeking a full banking license in Europe and has focused on Lithuania as its preferred jurisdiction.
- The Bank of Lithuania’s registry lists Payward Ireland Limited t/a Kraken under the category “Electronic money institutions of EU Member States providing services in the Republic of Lithuania without a branch”.
- That existing registration covers only payment-transaction execution, electronic-money issuance, and e-money distribution and redemption, passported in from Ireland, not deposit-taking or lending.
- The same Central Bank of Ireland-issued registration also lets Payward provide services without a branch in 29 other EU member states, according to Bank of Lithuania registry data.
- If Kraken succeeds in Lithuania, it would become the first crypto exchange to hold a full European banking license, adding current accounts and consumer lending to that footprint.
What Happened?
What the Bank of Lithuania’s public financial market participants register does confirm, independent of that anonymous sourcing, is Kraken’s current regulatory status in the country as of the filing. The entry lists Payward Ireland Limited, domiciled in Dublin, under registration codes 688569 and C453020. It is categorized as an electronic money institution passporting services into Lithuania without opening a local branch, a routine cross-border registration, not a license issued by Lithuania itself.
A passported EMI registration lets Payward move payments and e-money across borders under an authorization it already holds in Ireland. A full banking license would make Payward a directly licensed Lithuanian credit institution, answerable to the Bank of Lithuania’s own prudential supervision rather than riding on Dublin’s.
SCOOP: @krakenfx is pursuing a full banking license in Europe, with a focus on Lithuania as the jurisdiction to secure it, according to a person familiar with the plans.@IanAllison123 reports. pic.twitter.com/foSPMdNKCk
— CoinDesk (@CoinDesk) July 7, 2026
EMI Passporting vs. a Banking Charter
A full banking license would let Kraken offer current accounts, consumer lending, and broader payment features across the EEA. The registry data shows exactly what that would replace.
Payward’s current Lithuanian permissions cover execution of payment transactions such as direct debits, card transactions, and credit transfers, plus issuing and redeeming electronic money, a payments and e-money mandate, not a banking one. Deposits and consumer loans sit under a different regulatory category entirely, one no e-money passport satisfies.
Revolut obtained a specialized banking license from the Bank of Lithuania in 2018, which let it expand financial services across the EEA. Revolut’s move converted an e-money base into a banking one in the same jurisdiction it was already using, the template Kraken appears to be following.
Other firms holding banking or specialized bank licenses in Lithuania include Mano Bank, PayRay, and EMBank, reinforcing Lithuania’s track record as an entry point for fintechs seeking EU-wide banking rights without a full continental buildout, since a license from one member state’s central bank carries passporting rights across the bloc.
Kraken’s Existing EU Foothold
Kraken currently holds MiCA authorization through the Central Bank of Ireland and a MiFID license through Cyprus, together letting it offer regulated services to users across the EU. That registry entry adds a third layer to the picture: an Ireland-issued electronic money institution passport already covering Lithuania and 29 additional member states without a branch anywhere. MiCA (the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation) is the bloc’s single crypto-asset rulebook, and its enforcement began across the EU on July 1, 2026, one week before this reporting surfaced.
MiCA governs crypto-asset services; MiFID governs investment services; the EMI passport governs payments and e-money. None of the three covers deposit-taking, lending, or current-account issuance, the activities a banking license unlocks. Kraken would be stacking a fourth, heavier-weight status on top of three it already holds, each supervised differently.
A Broader Global Licensing Push
The Lithuania move is part of a wider licensing strategy by Payward, Kraken’s parent company. In March 2026, Kraken Financial became the first crypto firm to gain direct access to the Federal Reserve’s core payments infrastructure, giving its US banking arm access to Fedwire for certain services. In May 2026, Payward secured a VARA authorization in the UAE, adding another regulated market to its portfolio.
VARA is Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority.
Kraken co-CEO Arjun Sethi outlined the company’s direction at Money 2020 Europe, saying the plan for the next ten years is to obtain licenses in each region, either by buying an existing business or building from scratch. Kraken is also planning to go public in the United States, a step that typically demands a demonstrably clean, well-documented regulatory footprint across every market a company operates in.
Read against the Lithuanian registry, the pattern sharpens: Fedwire access in the US, a VARA license in the UAE, and a passported EMI base already covering 30 EU jurisdictions are all lighter-weight rails than the one Kraken is reportedly now chasing. A banking charter would not add another region to the map, it would upgrade the legal category Kraken operates under in the region it already serves most broadly.
CoinLaw’s Takeaway
The Bank of Lithuania’s own registry draws a sharper line than the reported story alone can. Kraken currently reaches Lithuania and 29 other EU states purely on the strength of an Ireland issued e-money passport, a permission built for moving payments, not for taking deposits or writing loans. A banking license would put Payward under Lithuania’s own prudential supervision for the first time, a heavier compliance category than any crypto exchange’s existing EU permissions come close to meeting.
Copying Revolut’s 2018 Lithuania route suggests Kraken sees a specific, proven regulatory shortcut rather than a novel legal risk, but the registry data shows just how large a jump that shortcut represents from where Payward’s Lithuanian footprint stands today.
Readers should treat this as an early-stage signal layered on a verified, but much narrower, existing registration, not confirmation the license is imminent. This 2026 reporting still rests on an unnamed source and an exchange that declined to comment, so the plan is not yet a filed application or a granted license.
