Kraken becomes first crypto firm to win a Federal Reserve master account, gaining direct access to Fedwire interbank payments

Kraken’s Wyoming-chartered bank, Kraken Financial, has become the first crypto-native institution to receive a Federal Reserve master account, giving it direct connectivity to core U.S. payment rails such as Fedwire and ACH without relying on correspondent banks. The account, approved by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City on March 4, 2026, is structured as a limited or “skinny” master account with an initial one-year term and specific constraints, including no access to the discount window or interest on reserves. This access builds on Kraken Financial’s status as a Wyoming Special Purpose Depository Institution (SPDI) operating on a full‑reserve model, meaning it holds liquid assets equal to or exceeding 100% of client fiat deposits. The move allows Kraken to settle U.S. dollar transactions directly over the Fed’s infrastructure, which is expected to improve speed, reduce costs and complexity, and strengthen fiat on‑ and off‑ramps for institutional crypto clients by cutting out intermediary banks. Kraken executives characterize this as the convergence of crypto infrastructure and sovereign payment rails, enabling closer integration of regulated fiat liquidity into digital asset markets and enhancing risk management and treasury operations for the firm. Regulators and policy analysts describe the approval as a pilot case for how certain nonbank or nontraditional institutions might access the central bank’s payment system under the Fed’s tiered review framework (Kraken is in the most heavily scrutinized Tier 3), a live policy question that has drawn both interest and concern from traditional banking groups. The decision has broader significance for U.S. financial regulation and crypto‑banking policy. A Federal Reserve master account is the operational gateway to holding balances and settling payments directly on the Fed’s books, historically reserved for federally supervised depository institutions. Granting even a limited version of this to a crypto-focused SPDI tests how far access to public payments infrastructure can be extended to novel entities without importing the full bank regulatory and safety‑net framework. Supporters see this as a step toward more efficient, regulated connectivity between digital assets and traditional finance, while critics, including the Bank Policy Institute, warn that approving a skinny account before finalizing a comprehensive policy framework introduces regulatory and systemic‑risk uncertainties. "entities":["Kraken","Kraken Financial","Payward Ventures","Payward Inc.","Federal Reserve","Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City","Fedwire","Automated Clearing House (ACH)","Wyoming Special Purpose Depository Institution (SPDI)","Arjun Sethi","Jonathan Jachym","Michelle Bowman","Bank Policy Institute (BPI)","CoinDesk"]}'}`

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• BPI Statement on Kraken Master Account - Bank Policy Institute (bpi.com)

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