Kraken Financial has become the first crypto firm to gain access to the U.S. Federal Reserve’s core payments system. The move is a significant development for the crypto industry. The Federal Reserve master account access is part of a one-year pilot program for non-bank financial institutions.

Kraken’s master account access could potentially improve efficiency and reliability for institutional clients. Numerous banks and credit unions handle transactions on Fedwire, an interbank payment and settlement system operated by Federal Reserve banks. The average daily value of fund transfers processed on Fedwire is $4.5 trillion. By enabling Kraken to avoid dependency on bank intermediaries and connect directly with key U.S. payment rails, Kraken will be able to improve processing speeds for large institutional and professional clients.

The co-CEO of Kraken, Arjun Sethi, stated: “This milestone marks the convergence of crypto infrastructure and sovereign financial rails. With a Federal Reserve master account, we can operate not as a peripheral participant in the U.S. banking system, but as a directly connected financial institution.”

This access to the Fed’s payment rails was approved by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City in March 2026. Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman views the Kraken approval as a test of how non-banking organizations perform with limited core payment connectivity access.

Senator Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, an ardent supporter of the crypto industry, described the development as “a watershed milestone in the history of digital assets.” As Chair of the Senate Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Senator Lummis has pushed for clearer regulatory frameworks for digital assets in an effort to boost innovation.

As part of the pilot program, Kraken has a limited purpose master account with certain limitations. The “skinny” master account provides Kraken with the ability to settle transactions directly, but does not provide access to the fed’s discount window borrowing facilities, overdraft privileges, or the ability to earn interest on reserve balances. Kraken had been engaging with federal and Wyoming regulators for a number of years leading up to the approval.

The U.S. government policies have become increasingly favorable to the crypto industry under the Trump administration. The move comes amid other pro-crypto developments, including the passage of the GENIUS Act in July 2025 establishing a regulatory framework for payment stablecoins and the issuance of comprehensive guidance by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in March 2026 providing clarity about the regulation of different categories of crypto assets.

Kraken, whose legal name is Payward, is a U.S. cryptocurrency exchange founded in 2011 by Jesse Powell. Headquartered in San Francisco, the digital asset firm gained a reputation for providing a secure trading platform. Kraken Financial is the company’s banking unit and is a Wyoming-chartered special purpose depositary institution (SPDI).

The current co-CEOs of Kraken are Dave Ripley and Arjun Sethi. Kraken has ambitious growth plans, hoping to become a public company through an initial public offering (IPO) in the near future. The company recently filed confidential paperwork with the SEC as an initial step in the IPO process.