US crypto exchange Kraken has reached an important milestone, becoming one of the few crypto firms in the US to be given a limited master account by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.
With this permission, Kraken Financial, the exchange’s banking arm, is now able to access directly the main payment systems of the Fed and therefore carry out money transfers on the same networks as banks and credit unions.
Change for the Crypto Industry
This move is seen as a “historic shift” for the US crypto industry, indicating a more positive attitude from the Fed, which crypto advocates had accused of being unfriendly in the past.
The Fed’s decision acknowledges that Kraken is sufficiently equipped with anti-money laundering and sanctions compliance procedures that limit the risk of illicit finance and also supports the legitimacy of Wyoming’s regulatory framework for special-purpose depository institutions.
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Limited access, yet big implications
Even though the approval doesn’t grant the bank full banking rights, like paying interest on reserves, it allows Kraken to speed up large deposit and withdrawal transactions for institutional clients and big traders.
The crypto industry’s rising influence in the mainstream finance world is being highlighted by this action. In fact, digital assets are being increasingly integrated into the traditional markets.
Future possibilities
By granting a Fed master account to a crypto company, the approval opens the doors for other crypto firms to follow suit, thus enabling crypto, finance to get even more integrated with traditional finance.
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