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Wells Fargo seeks crypto trading liquidity from Kraken parent Payward
Wells Fargo is in talks to source crypto trading liquidity from Payward, the $21 billion Kraken parent, two people told CoinDesk. A signed contract would let the bank offer crypto execution without building trading infrastructure and would put bank revenue behind Payward's price.
The Investor · Invest desk
What happened
- The talks are ongoing and may not produce a deal, CoinDesk reported, and both Payward and Wells Fargo declined to comment.
- BNY is separately in talks with Payward over a partnership that could cover crypto products, custody, wealth management, trading and payments.
- On September 3, SoFi agreed to give its users Kraken Prime liquidity, with 24/7 dollar settlement inside SoFi's network and SoFiUSD listed on Kraken.
- Payward has bought Bitnomial and NinjaTrader to add regulated derivatives and futures as it turns itself from an exchange into a broader financial services provider.
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Why it matters
- decision Wells Fargo would skip funding its own crypto trading infrastructure and instead take on Payward as an outside counterparty for client orders.
- exposure Payward's execution would sit inside Wells Fargo's crypto offering, so problems at the exchange operator would reach the bank's clients.
- constraint At about 10 times annualized second-quarter revenue, Payward's price depends on talks like this one turning into signed contracts that appear in reported revenue.
Nasdaq's September investment bought about 0.48% of Payward at the $21 billion valuation Crypto Briefing reported [4][17]. Wells Fargo was Nasdaq's exclusive capital markets adviser on that deal [3]. The adviser is now the prospective customer [1]. Payward's second-quarter adjusted revenue was $508 million, up 17% from a year earlier [10]. Against that, the price is about 10.3 times a $2.03 billion annual run rate [18].
In CoinDesk's account, most of Wells Fargo's crypto activity runs through other firms. The bank offers spot bitcoin ETFs to eligible wealth clients and has backed trading technology provider Talos and compliance firm Elliptic [11]. It also joined a consortium developing a dollar stablecoin [12]. Liquidity from Payward would add execution to that list. Kraken already sells banks technology that puts crypto trading inside their own platforms, so they can serve clients without building the infrastructure themselves [5]. The talks CoinDesk reported are about supplying liquidity, and neither outlet reports terms, volumes or an equity stake [1].
If the talks survive, a signed deal could still leave Payward as one supplier among several. Exchanges often act as liquidity gateways for banks, and Coinbase Prime aggregates liquidity across multiple markets [6]. It is also possible that Wells signs and the flow turns out small next to Payward's quarterly revenue [10].
I think Wells is buying its crypto infrastructure from outside firms, at least for execution, much as it did when it backed Talos and Elliptic [11]. The case against that view comes from inside the bank. Earlier this year Wells hired former Citi banker Mark Gracia to strengthen its digital assets team [13]. A bigger team could bring trading in-house once the bank knows how much its clients want. If that team ends up running its own crypto trading book, with Payward as one quote among several, the view is wrong.
Payward Services already sells infrastructure to banks, fintechs, brokerages and payment companies [9]. In February 2025, Anchorage Digital CEO Nathan McCauley told the Senate Banking Committee that more than 40 banks had rejected its requests for accounts, even though one of its subsidiaries held a federal bank charter [15]. Twenty months later [19], Wells Fargo is negotiating to buy crypto liquidity from an exchange operator [1].
What to watch
- Whether Wells Fargo or Payward confirms a contract, and whether the terms include volumes, exclusivity or an equity stake.
- Payward's next quarterly report, for revenue from banks and other business clients set against the $508 million second quarter.
- Whether Wells Fargo's expanded digital assets team adds a second liquidity provider or starts a crypto trading book of its own.