Kraken Owner Payward to Buy Lithuania's Saldo Bank by 2027

Kraken's parent company, Payward, has agreed to buy Saldo Bank, a Lithuania-licensed digital lender with 163.9 million euros ($180 million) in total assets, in a deal the companies expect to close in 2027. If regulators approve it, the purchase would make Payward the first cryptocurrency company to own a commercial bank in Europe, according to Financial Times reporting cited by CoinDesk.

What Payward agreed to buy

Payward signed a definitive agreement on October 14, 2026 to acquire Saldo Finance Oy, a Finnish holding company whose subsidiary, Saldo Bank UAB, is a digital bank licensed in Lithuania, according to the company's own announcement. Payward said the bank's license and footprint span four operating markets, including Lithuania, Finland, Sweden and Germany, where the bank already offers retail term deposits, with authorization also passported into the Netherlands — five markets in total.

The license itself is not new. Reporting from CryptoTimes notes the European Central Bank granted Saldo Bank's specialized banking license on October 26, 2021, acting on a proposal from the Bank of Lithuania, the country's central bank and financial regulator. Cryptobriefing reported the bank started operating in Lithuania in February 2023, meaning Payward is buying a relatively young institution rather than a legacy lender.

Financial terms were not disclosed, and the companies have not said what Payward is paying for Saldo Finance Oy. CoinDesk, citing the Financial Times, reported the deal is subject to regulatory approval and expected to close in 2027. Closing in 2027 means the transaction still needs sign-off from banking regulators before Payward can take ownership; a signed agreement is not the same as a completed purchase.

Saldo Bank's numbers, and what they establish

Saldo Bank is small relative to major European lenders, and the figures reported so far describe its current scale, not what it might become inside Payward. CoinDesk, citing bank-data provider The Banks, reported Saldo Bank had 163.9 million euros ($180 million) in total assets at the end of 2025, up 22.7% from a year earlier. Cryptobriefing separately reported a loan portfolio worth €124 million and a 2025 net profit of €0.96 million, after a €2.39 million loss the year before — indicating the bank only recently turned profitable.

What this would actually let Payward offer

A banking license changes what Payward is legally allowed to do with customer money in Europe, but it does not by itself create new products on day one. Payward's announcement said the deal would let it add interest-bearing deposits, lending products and banking-as-a-service functions such as card issuance and SME lending. Saldo already offers versions of these: industry outlet DefiPrime reported that retail customers already hold term deposits and borrow where those products are live, while fintech partners in Finland and Germany use the bank's lending infrastructure for their own customers.

Card rollout illustrates why market-by-market detail matters. DefiPrime reported Saldo's card is live in Finland, with Sweden expected to follow in 2027, while cautioning that this schedule does not establish when a Payward-branded card could launch or whether the existing product would extend to other licensed markets. In practice, a signed deal and an existing license describe what becomes legally possible, not when Kraken customers in a given country will actually see a new account, loan or card.

Payward co-CEO Arjun Sethi tied the move to customer demand. Decrypt reported he said customers want to "borrow and lend against their assets without selling them". That describes collateralized lending, a different product from a bank deposit account, and one that carries liquidation risk if collateral values fall — separate from the deposit and payment services the Saldo license covers.

How this fits Payward's broader expansion, and what's still unknown

The Saldo deal is Payward's third disclosed acquisition this year. TradersUnion reported the company previously acquired derivatives exchange Bitnomial for $550 million in April and stablecoin payment provider Reap Technologies for $600 million in May. Unlike those two deals, Payward did not disclose the Saldo purchase price, so readers cannot directly compare the size of this transaction to Bitnomial or Reap.

The acquisition also arrives while Payward's own path to a public listing keeps slipping. Cryptobriefing reported Payward confidentially filed an S-1 registration statement with the SEC in November 2025, then paused its IPO in March 2026 citing weak market conditions, and has since pushed its target to no earlier than the second quarter of 2027, as adjusted EBITDA fell 71%. Blockhead reported Payward was "last valued at around $20 billion" and posted $508 million in adjusted revenue for the second quarter of 2026, up 17% year over year. A banking license is a regulatory asset, not a revenue figure, and nothing in the sourced reporting ties the Saldo deal to a change in that IPO timeline or valuation.

What remains unknown: the purchase price, which specific regulators must approve the sale before 2027, and launch dates for any Payward-branded deposit, lending or card product outside the markets Saldo already serves. CoinDesk noted Kraken had already been seeking a banking license in Lithuania, as CoinDesk reported in July — suggesting the Saldo purchase is the outcome of a months-long search rather than a sudden decision, though neither report detailed what alternatives Kraken had considered.