09/10-13   -   Press releases

Kraken.com to Offer Digital Currency Trading Services in Exclusive EU Partnership with Fidor Bank AG

Payward Ltd., the developer of the Kraken digital currency exchange, today announced plans to partner with Fidor Bank, the Munich-based leader in innovative online banking, to give Kraken’s customers in the European Union access to a full suite of traditional financial services. The partnership will be the first of its kind between a licensed, insured, and regulated bank and a digital currency exchange.

‘From the beginning, our goal has been to establish Bitcoin and other digital currencies as legitimate complements to the euro, the pound and other traditional, government-issued currencies,’ said Jesse Powell, CEO of Payward Ltd. ‘In Fidor Bank we’ve found our ideal partner: a responsible, forward-thinking financial institution looking to combine the predictability and stability of traditional banking relationships with the social and economic benefits of new digital currencies. We’re thrilled to bring these services to our customers in the EU and look forward to making them available globally in cooperation with financial industry partners and regulatory authorities around the world.’

Fidor’s partnership with Kraken fits with its business strategy. ‘Our long-term goal is to bring important market innovations to our business partners and private clients’, explained Matthias Kröner, CEO of Fidor Bank AG. ‘Digital currencies are emerging as serious and useful alternatives to government-issued currencies. With Kraken, we can
enable our customers to trade Bitcoin and other digital currencies just as securely, easily and flexibly as they trade other foreign currencies today.’

Pursuant to the proposed partnership agreement, Kraken will become Fidor Bank’s exclusive provider of digital currency trading and payment services throughout the EU (except in the German market, where Fidor has a limited existing partnership with a German exchange), while Kraken gains the ability to offer a full suite of Fidor banking services to Kraken’s EU customers.

Mr. Powell envisions more such partnerships to come. ‘Once they see Fidor entering the digital currency space, I’m sure many other banks will want to follow suit. The use of digital currencies in financial services has potential to benefit customers and businesses all over the world. This partnership marks an important step down the path of bringing those services to the global financial service marketplace in full compliance with applicable law and regulation.’

About Payward Ltd.:

Payward combines years of experience in the virtual goods and currency markets with a highly skilled engineering team and a host of carefully cultivated banking and finance relationships. Kraken (http://www.kraken.com), Payward’s full-featured professional digital currency exchange and trading platform, offers advanced trading tools, a sophisticated user interface, robust technical security and full regulatory compliance to traders in digital currencies like Bitcoin, Ripple, and Ven. Since its public launch on 9 September 2013, Kraken has enrolled thousands of users to its platform. Kraken attributes this success to its robust user interface, strict regulatory compliance and professional array of advanced order types, the result of two years of development.

About Fidor Bank AG:

Fidor Bank AG (http://www.fidor.de) is an internet-based direct bank licensed in Germany. With its FidorPay account the bank addresses private and corporate clients. The FidorPay account is a primary bank account, offering a combination of a classical bank account with internet payments and innovative banking services. The services on offer to corporate clients include selected financing products and a FidorPay business account especially created for e-commerce. Fidor Bank AG makes consistent use of Web 2.0 mechanisms. To interact and communicate with users the bank leverages its own community as well as all popular social media platforms, including:

- YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/user/FidorCommBanking)
- Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/fidorbank)
- Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/ficoba)
- XING (https://www.xing.com/net/ficoba)