Kraken, the San Francisco cryptocurrency exchange, has rolled out a new international payment app, Krak. This app is designed to shake up traditional finance by enabling users to send money internationally without banks. It accepts more than 300 currencies and is live in more than 110 countries.
Krak is a peer-to-peer payment platform that integrates crypto and fiat capabilities. Payment and receipt of funds are made possible through a distinctive ID system known as Kraktag. This eliminates the necessity for bank account information or wallet addresses. Fiat transactions in USD, EUR, and GBP are settled internally, allowing fast and convenient cross-border payments.
The app supports every currency listed on Kraken’s main exchange. It also includes integration with layer-2 blockchain networks such as Bitcoin’s Lightning Network to speed up crypto transfers and reduce fees.
Kraken asserts that Krak is designed to cater to various regional monetary requirements. In countries vulnerable to inflation, like those in Latin America, the application provides users with a choice to keep money in US dollar-backed stablecoins. In North America, where cross-border transactions might take time and are costly, the application provides instantaneous peer-to-peer transactions.
If you’re in Latin America, you might want to hold your assets in stablecoins and earn yield. If you’re in North America, Kraken facilitates it to send money across borders,” stated Mark Greenberg, Kraken’s Global Head of Consumer.
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Krak is more than a payment tool. Paxos-issued USDG stablecoin holders can receive rewards of up to 4.1%. Over 20 other assets have earnings of up to 10%. All these benefits are available without a subscription charge or lock-in, which allows Krak to be a versatile money management app.
Kraken will also launch virtual and physical Krak cards for daily spending, as well as future products like consumer lending and credit services.
Krak’s launch is the latest sign of Kraken’s long-term goals to move beyond trading crypto. This summer, the company paid $1.5 billion for futures platform NinjaTrader and revived Bitcoin staking. They achieved this through the Babylon protocol. As regulatory scrutiny subsides, Kraken has disclosed plans to list.
“Our financial system is antiquated,” Kraken co-CEO Arjun Sethi said. “Krak is our solution to rethinking the way money flows across the globe.”