Wells Fargo in talks with Kraken parent Payward for crypto trading liquidity

The GENIUS Act, signed by Trump in July 2025, established a federal framework for payment stablecoins, providing clearer rules for a key link between crypto markets and the banking system.

During the industry’s banking squeeze, crypto firms struggled to secure basic banking services. Anchorage Digital CEO Nathan McCauley told the Senate Banking Committee in February 2025 that more than 40 banks rejected its requests for accounts despite its subsidiary holding a federal bank charter.

Wells Fargo already offers spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to eligible wealth clients and has backed crypto compliance firm Elliptic and trading technology provider Talos. It has also announced plans for blockchain-based deposits and joined a consortium developing a dollar stablecoin, extending its digital asset activities into payments.

The California-based financial services firm strengthened its digital assets team earlier this year by hiring former Citi (C) banker Mark Gracia. The bank also served as Nasdaq’s exclusive capital markets adviser on the exchange operator’s September agreement to invest $100 million in Payward and deepen their collaboration on tokenized equities and market surveillance.

Payward is separately in talks with custody banking giant BNY over a broad financial-infrastructure partnership, CoinDesk reported last week. Those discussions could cover crypto products, custody, wealth management, trading and payments, further extending the company’s ties with established financial institutions.