Sep 16, 2020
Today, Kraken Financial, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Kraken, became the first financial institution to receive the Special Purpose Depository Institution (SPDI) charter from the State of Wyoming. To celebrate this major milestone, David Kinitsky, CEO of Kraken Financial, and Marco Santori, Kraken CLO, joined us on the show. In this episode:
- Why Kraken decided to open an office in Wyoming and pursue the SPDI
- Why David and Marco chose to join Kraken and work on this project
- Kraken's journey to obtaining the SPDI and what's next
- Why Kraken Financial will not seek oversight from the FDIC – and why it doesn't need deposit insurance
- What an SPDI will enable Kraken to do
- What distinguishes a full reserve bank – and why take that approach
- How Kraken Financial would distinguish itself from the standard banks that service crypto companies and from full reserve bitcoin custodians
- Whether Kraken expects NY to honor reciprocity for the Wyoming SPDI
- The relationship between Kraken group and Kraken Financial
- The next steps to take the SPDI approval and become an operational, fully-fledged deposit taking institution
- What the SPDI will mean for existing Kraken customers
Read more about the SPDI here.