Latest news with #MarkGreenberg
Yahoo
28-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Kraken Launches Crypto's Attempt at a Venmo-Killer
Kraken's rising from the decentralized deep to capsize a big ship: traditional finance. The crypto platform launched a peer-to-peer payments app yesterday that lets users instantly send 300+ crypto tokens, stablecoins and fiat currencies to friends and family in more than 100 countries. Anyone who has had to split a check with new hostel friends knows that rivals Venmo and Zelle only support payments between US users. Kraken's app, called Krak, also doesn't charge fees for cross-border payments or transfers from one currency to another, setting it apart from PayPal. Kraken's app is meant to serve as an entry point to digital assets for the crypto-cautious, with rewards of up to 10% on Krak account balances to entice new users. Krak is also part of Kraken's push into traditional finance to diversify revenue ahead of a planned IPO. READ ALSO: Dwindling IPOs Reward Investors With Return Bonanza and After Reclaiming 'World's Most Valuable Company' Crown, Nvidia Gilds the Tiara Those are the words of Kraken exec Mark Greenberg as Kraken and other crypto companies try to put their blockchain-backed spins on traditional finance: Kraken debuted tokens that represent US equities for non-US users, letting them trade representations of stocks like Nvidia and Tesla over the blockchain. It also bought futures-trading platform NinjaTrader this spring for $1.5 billion. Crypto exchange Coinbase teamed up with Shopify to launch a payments platform (creatively named Coinbase Payments) that lets merchants accept payments using the stablecoin USDC. The issuer of USDC, Circle, also introduced a cross-border payments network this spring. At the same time, TradFi isn't going down without a fight: JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Wells Fargo are reportedly exploring the creation of a joint stablecoin, and brokerages like Morgan Stanley and Charles Schwab are working on adding crypto trading. Hot Coin Summer: The line between traditional and digital finance has grown blurry in the Trump era as regulatory actions against crypto companies have eased. In March, the SEC dropped a lawsuit accusing Kraken of operating an unregistered securities exchange, following the agency's abandonment of a similar suit against rival Coinbase. Both sides of the finance world have read the new room and aren't missing the opportunity to try to eat each other's lunch. This post first appeared on The Daily Upside. To receive delivering razor sharp analysis and perspective on all things finance, economics, and markets, subscribe to our free The Daily Upside newsletter. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
26-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Crypto Exchange Kraken Unveils ‘Krak,' Its New All-in-One Global Money App
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.'
Yahoo
19-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Crypto Exchange Kraken Adds Bitcoin Staking Via Babylon as BTC Driven DeFi Picks Up
Crypto exchange Kraken has launched bitcoin BTC staking through a new integration with Babylon, as decentralized finance on BTC picks up. Babylon is a Bitcoin-native protocol that enables BTC to secure proof-of-stake (PoS) networks without leaving the blockchain. The service allows Kraken users to stake their bitcoin directly, locking it in a custodial vault on the native chain. The staked bitcoin is then delegated to PoS networks via Babylon, and rewards are paid in BABY, the token of Babylon Genesis, a bitcoin-secured Layer 1, Kraken said. Bitcoin has historically been used as a store of value and a medium of exchange. The advent of novel security sharing protocols has made BTC staking a third native use case, bitcoin DeFi, for the world's largest cryptocurrency. The Bitcoin network is "evolving into a broader decentralized finance ecosystem with the emergence of Bitcoin DeFi," Binance Research said in a report in March. Only ~0.8% of the bitcoin supply is currently being used in DeFi, and this presents a large "untapped opportunity," the report said. Binance, the competing crypto exchange of Kraken, also offers a bitcoin staking opportunity on its platform through Babylon. 'With this launch, clients can earn a return on their BTC while also enabling emerging PoS blockchains to benefit from the economic weight of bitcoin in order to validate transactions and bolster the security of their networks,' said Kraken's Global Head of Consumer, Mark Greenberg, in the release. The mechanism is fully on-chain, with staking governed by Bitcoin scripts and cryptographic safeguards to deter malicious behavior. Users can unstake at any time, with around a 7-day unbonding period. The crypto exchange first introduced custodial staking in 2019. The bitcoin staking feature is now available across all Kraken platforms.
Business Wire
19-06-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
Kraken Launches Bitcoin Staking via the Babylon Bitcoin Staking Protocol, Unlocking New Reward Opportunities for Clients' BTC
CHEYENNE, Wyo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Kraken, one of the longest-standing, most liquid and secure cryptocurrency exchanges, today announced the launch of Bitcoin (BTC) staking through a new integration with the Babylon Bitcoin staking protocol, a Bitcoin-native staking protocol. The integration enables Kraken clients to earn passive rewards on their BTC without bridging, wrapping or lending it out. Beginning today, Kraken clients can choose to stake their Bitcoin directly from Kraken through an integration with the Babylon Bitcoin staking protocol. The BTC is locked in a vault on the native Bitcoin chain and delegated to secure Proof of Stake networks via the Babylon protocol. Staked Bitcoin rewards are paid in BABY, the native token for Babylon Genesis, the first L1 network to be supercharged by Bitcoin. 'A substantial amount of Bitcoin currently sits idle on our exchange, representing a significant opportunity cost for clients and a missed opportunity for the broader ecosystem,' said Mark Greenberg, Global Head of Consumer. 'With this launch, clients can now earn a return on their BTC while also enabling emerging PoS blockchains to benefit from the economic weight of Bitcoin in order to validate transactions and bolster the security of their networks.' 'Kraken's integration with the Babylon Bitcoin staking protocol shows how trust-minimized, Bitcoin staking can work at scale,' said Clayton Menzel, Head of Business Development at Babylon Labs. 'By anchoring staked BTC on the native chain and delegating it to PoS networks, Kraken clients can finally earn rewards without bridges or wrappers, helping preserve Bitcoin's unmatched security and sovereignty. This launch channels Bitcoin's economic gravity into securing the next wave of PoS ecosystems and marks a major step toward a truly BTC-native DeFi landscape.' Holders' staked BTC never leaves the Bitcoin blockchain. The staking mechanism is governed by Bitcoin scripts, and staking rewards are handled by on-chain logic on Babylon Genesis, publicly verifiable by users and third parties. The BTC staking protocol also includes cryptographic safeguards to deter and penalize malicious behaviors. Clients can unstake their BTC at any time, with a ~7-day unbonding period before funds are available for withdrawal. This launch marks a significant expansion of Kraken's growing staking suite and further reinforces the platform's leadership in product innovation. Kraken was one of the first exchanges to introduce custodial staking in 2019, enabling millions of users to participate in earning rewards through its Earn platform. The BTC staking product is available starting today across all Kraken platform interfaces, including Kraken and Kraken Pro. For more information, please visit h ttps:// About Kraken Kraken is a technology platform built on crypto that unlocks access and reduces inefficiencies to drive financial freedom — for the crypto economy and beyond. Millions of individuals, professional traders, and institutions around the world use Kraken to trade digital and traditional assets, including cryptocurrencies, national currencies, U.S. futures, and U.S.-listed stocks and ETFs. Kraken markets can be monitored and traded via the web or through the Kraken and Kraken Pro iOS and Android apps. Futures platforms by NinjaTrader, a Kraken company, are available on desktop, web, and mobile via For more information about Kraken, please visit About Babylon Labs Babylon Labs focuses on Bitcoin security-sharing protocols with a vision of building a Bitcoin-secured decentralized world. The latest software development is the world's first trustless and self-custodial Bitcoin staking protocol, which enables Bitcoin holders to stake their BTC on other decentralized systems such as PoS chains, L2s, Data Availability (DA) layers, etc, enabling stakers to earn staking rewards without the need for third-party custody, bridge solutions, or wrapping services. The greater idea is to combine the high security and wide adoption of Bitcoin with the efficiency and scalability of PoS systems, increasing Bitcoin's utility.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Global Dollar's USDG Eyes Hundreds of Partners Attracted by Yield, Sees 'Big Names' From TradFi
It's early days for USDG, a stablecoin that debuted in November, but a thousand firms could join the Global Dollar group that helps popularize the token in return for a share of the yield earned on reserve assets, according to crypto exchange Kraken, one of the founding partners. USDG, whose other backers include trading platform Robinhood (HOOD), stablecoin issuer Paxos, crypto investor Galaxy Digital and crypto bank Anchorage Digital, recently welcomed 19 new joiners, many of them crypto native firms. Banks and large traditional finance firms are also lining up, Kraken's consumer business lead Mark Greenberg said. 'There are 25-plus partners now, and I hope in another month, we'll be announcing the next 25, and then the next 25. So from 25 to 50 to 1,000," Greenberg said in an interview. "I'm very excited about some of the partners coming up in traditional finance and in crypto — big names on both sides. We're talking to a lot of banks and I think a few will be coming online soon.' The changing dollar stablecoin landscape has been dominated by two big players: Tether's USDT, far and away the largest at a market cap of over $150 billion, and Circle's USDC which commands a circulation of just over $60 billion. USDG has just $276 million, making it the 24th-largest stablecoin in a CoinGecko ranking. Paxos, the New York-regulated stablecoin specialist underpinning USDG, originally offered a contender to USDC and USDT in the form of tie-up with exchange giant Binance, but the partnership was discontinued for regulatory reasons. Greenberg said Global Dollar is a 'true consortium,' and Paxos is a distribution partner, albeit with some particular administrative duties. 'We are building a decentralized community around the stablecoin, with yield that goes back to everybody,' Greenberg said. 'Some of us are founding partners, and if we were a property company, Paxos would be the property management. They make sure that the licenses are in place and that the treasuries are handled properly and that the minting is done. But it's on all of us to be equal partners in making the Global Dollar network a success.' Driving the consortium's growth is the offer of yield, which both incentivizes firms to join up, and also reimagines stablecoins as part of the wider financial system, Greenberg said. It's also how USDG plans to challenge the dominance of Tether and Circle. 'I believe in decentralization over centralization. I believe in giving the value back to users, and USDG is doing that in a way that you can't with Circle or Tether today,' said Greenberg. 'Tether and Circle make a lot of money. In banking you give your deposits and they do things with it, but you get almost nothing back. But stablecoins shouldn't be like that.' Kraken moves a lot of money around the world and naturally the firm has been using USDG, eating its own dog food, in business innovation parlance. 'We use global dollars and the USDG all over the world,' Greenberg said. 'You send a wire and it can take four or five days and get stuck in some random bank along the way. That's already changing really fast. And you see players like Visa and MasterCard and others come to the table and stablecoins start to play that role in a much bigger way.' Kraken's clients are also taking advantage of earning up to 4.1% on U.S. dollars in every country in the world by putting their money in USDG, Greenberg added. 'If you're in the U.S., maybe that's not that exciting, because there are other ways to do that. But if you're in Argentina, or if you're in Canada, where there are no U.S. dollar accounts and earning 4.1% is unheard of, it's a very cool opportunity to make that happen.' UPDATE (May 22, 16:22 UTC): Rewrites headline, first paragraph to make clear Global Dollar is the name of the consortium, USDG the name of the stablecoin.
