Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken has added domestic (FedWire) and international (SWIFT) USD funding options through Silvergate Bank to give its US clients more choice as they manage their assets.
The deposit and withdrawal handling fees per wire for FedWire & SWIFT transactions are $25 and $40, respectively. The minimum deposit or withdrawal amount is $100, while the maximum amount depends on limits applied to the customer’s account.
Except for Texas, Washington and New York, Kraken can conduct this business through the new payment options in other US states.
The move is the latest in Kraken’s efforts to onboard more banking partners, building on their most recent integrations with Bank Frick, Signature and MVB Bank. The San Francisco-headquartered firm now offers its clients 10 different options to make USD deposits and withdraws, including five US-only options and five that are available worldwide.
The new integration also expands the current collaboration between the crypto-friendly lender and Kraken which has already joined the Silvergate Exchange Network (SEN) to enables its clients to deposit and withdraw US dollars from Silvergate accounts with no fees.
Kraken joins crypto exchanges, miners, and custodians who benefit from the service that also offers leveraged trading options. Silvergate already counts major crypto exchanges like Coinbase as clients.
The product, which was first launched in 2017, allows the bank’s customers to obtain US dollar loans collateralized by their bitcoin holdings at some crypto exchanges that Silvergate is currently serving.
SEN Network handled transfers worth $17.4 billion in Q1
SEN Leverage uses Silvergate Exchange Network (SEN) to fund loans and process repayments in real-time 24 hours per day, seven days per week.
Silvergate, which is trading under the ticker (NYSE: $ SI), registered a first-quarter increase in the number of transactions handled by its SEN Network, which rose to 31,405 compared to 14,400 transactions in the previous quarter. This figure is also four times higher than the 7,097 transactions set back in the first quarter of 2019.
In terms of value, the global payments platform, which now supports cash purchases of cryptocurrencies through wire transfers, experienced growth in excess of 90 percent. Specifically, the SEN handled $17.4 billion of US dollar transfers in the first quarter, compared to $9.6 billion in the fourth quarter of 2019, and $4.1 billion in the first quarter of 2019.
In the absence of major institutional attention, Silvergate Bank provided tailored financial services to businesses that are directly or indirectly dealing with cryptocurrency and blockchain-related services.
Interestingly, Kraken has recently secured approval from a state regulator in the US to launch a crypto bank under an SPDI charter. An SPDI bank charter permits Kraken to operate an independent bank that will reduce reliance on third-party financial institutions and allows the exchange to provide deposit-taking, custody and fiduciary services for digital assets.
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