Payward to become first crypto firm to buy an EU bank

Kraken parent Payward has agreed to acquire Lithuania's Saldo Bank, a lender with $190 million in total assets, in a deal that would make it the first digital-asset company to buy a bank in Europe, per CoinDesk. The purchase gives Payward an EU banking license for deposits and lending, extending its push to build bank-linked financial infrastructure.

• The deal advances Payward's plan to combine cash, crypto, tokenized stocks and credit in a single platform — its "one platform, one balance sheet" strategy beyond the Kraken exchange.
• Payward has already spent billions on acquisitions including NinjaTrader and Bitnomial.
• No deal terms or closing timeline were disclosed.