Cryptocurrency exchange giant Kraken introduced a blockchain-powered global money app called Krak that allows users to instantly transact across borders for almost no cost, while also earning competitive rewards on their account balances.
Krak is designed to fix the outdated norms of legacy finance, Kraken said, blending crypto technology with the exchange’s trusted network of banking relationships and payment partnerships. The app will allow users to send funds peer-to-peer across 110 countries and using 300-plus assets, spanning cryptocurrencies, stablecoins and fiat currencies without inserting bank details or crypto wallet addresses, according to a press release.
As the U.S. opens up more to crypto, big exchanges like Coinbase and Kraken are busy closing gaps in their customer offerings, whether that’s taking advantage of crypto rails for payments, earning yield or trading stocks.
The Krak app will also offer dedicated spend and earn accounts, where eligible users can earn up to 4.1% rewards on USDG stablecoin balances as well as additional opportunities across 20+ digital assets yielding up to 10%. USDG is the dollar-pegged token of the Global Dollar Network, of which Kraken is a key member.
“Look, banking sucks; maybe that’s the simplest way to say it,” Mark Greenberg, Kraken’s global head of consumer product said, in an interview. “I spent my whole career in banking and tried many different ways over the years to try to make it better. But it’s still too hard to move money, to send it, to share it, to spend it, to move it across borders, to earn off of it in a reasonable way. And crypto has always been a big part of the answer.”
