Wells Fargo is in talks for Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, to supply liquidity for its crypto trading operations, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter. The discussions, first reported by CoinDesk on October 7, would see the Wyoming-based firm provide liquidity for trading digital assets as one of the largest U.S. banks deepens its involvement in crypto.
The talks remain ongoing and may not result in a deal. Payward and Wells Fargo both declined to comment, and the two people spoke on condition of anonymity because the matter is private. Even so, the discussions mark a notable step: a top-four U.S. bank is weighing a crypto-native firm as the plumbing for its digital-asset trading ambitions rather than building that infrastructure itself.
Wells Fargo’s Expanding Crypto Footprint
Wells Fargo is not new to digital assets. The bank already offers spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds to eligible wealth clients, has backed crypto compliance firm Elliptic and trading-technology provider Talos, and has announced plans for blockchain-based deposits while joining a consortium developing a dollar stablecoin. It lifted its Ethereum ETF holdings 63.5% in the first quarter, according to regulatory filings, and this year hired former Citi banker Mark Gracia to help lead its digital-assets push.
The bank also served as Nasdaq’s exclusive capital-markets adviser on the exchange operator’s September agreement to invest $100 million in Payward, giving Wells Fargo an early view into the Kraken parent’s operations before these liquidity discussions began.
Banks Are Turning to Crypto-Native Rails
A Wells Fargo arrangement would extend a broader shift in which major financial institutions rent crypto-native infrastructure rather than build it in-house. Coinbase Prime already aggregates liquidity across venues for banks, while Kraken sells technology that lets lenders integrate crypto trading into their own platforms without assembling the infrastructure themselves. The pattern appears in deals such as SoFi’s tie-up with Kraken, which links a consumer-finance platform to the exchange’s crypto rails.
The timing reflects a more accommodating U.S. regulatory climate. The GENIUS Act, signed in July 2025, set a federal framework for payment stablecoins and clarified a key link between crypto markets and the banking system, and lenders have since grown more willing to treat established digital-asset firms as commercial partners. That is a sharp reversal from the debanking era, when crypto firms struggled to obtain basic accounts; Anchorage Digital’s chief executive told senators in February 2025 that more than 40 banks had rejected its requests.
What’s Still Unsettled
Because the discussions are private and both parties declined to comment, several questions remain open: the size of any arrangement, which assets it would cover, and whether it will be finalized at all. Payward is separately in talks with custody-banking giant BNY over a broad financial-infrastructure partnership, CoinDesk reported last week, so an agreement with Wells Fargo would widen the Kraken parent’s push into traditional finance. The next observable signal is whether either side confirms a formal agreement.
