Cryptocurrency exchanges are starting to acquire banks, while traditional financial institutions are bringing government bond trading onto the blockchain. Both sides are entering each other's business areas from different directions.
On October 14, Kraken's parent company Payward announced it had reached an agreement to acquire the Lithuanian licensed bank Saldo Bank. The transaction is expected to be completed by 2027, pending regulatory approval, and the specific purchase amount has not been disclosed.
The significance of this transaction goes beyond just expanding business scale. Through Saldo Bank, Payward is expected to further gain banking capabilities in the European market, integrating deposit, loan, credit card, and payment services with existing cryptocurrency asset trading. Saldo Bank has operations in multiple European markets and holds an EU banking license and cross-border operating capabilities.
Payward's co-CEO Arjun Sethi stated that the company's goal is to enable users to manage cash, cryptocurrency assets, tokenized stocks, and credit within the same system and to explore obtaining loans with digital assets as collateral.
This means that the competitive scope of Crypto platforms is expanding: in the past, the competition was over trading users and asset scale, and in the future, it may also extend to users' deposit, payment, and financing needs.
Traditional finance is also transforming trading infrastructure
On the other hand, traditional financial institutions are trying to use blockchain for real financial transactions.
On October 13, Bank of New York Mellon (BNY) and Citadel Securities completed a tokenized US government bond tri-party repurchase agreement. In the transaction, a two-year US government bond was recorded as a tokenized security on BNY's private digital ledger, with settlement completed in minutes, while traditional processes usually use a T+1 settlement cycle.
After settlement, the government bond was also used for an overnight tri-party repurchase transaction. This marks the first time tokenized assets have entered the relevant workflows of a large tri-party repurchase platform.
The focus of this test is not on how many tokens were issued, but on the fact that tokenized assets are beginning to enter the actual use of transactions, settlements, and collateral financing in institutions.
In the next phase, the competition is for financial service capabilities
Other institutions are also advancing similar layouts. Interactive Brokers announced on October 13 that it would open Ethereum staking services to eligible clients, further integrating digital asset yield functions into traditional multi-asset investment platforms.
From Payward acquiring a bank, to BNY testing rapid settlement of government bonds, to traditional brokers offering ETH staking, several paths point to the same change: cryptocurrency assets and traditional finance are no longer just vying for funds but are gradually integrating products, accounts, and infrastructure.
What's worth watching next is whether Payward can successfully complete the bank acquisition and whether tokenized government bonds can expand from a single test to more institutional transactions.
The real industry change may not be whether traditional finance enters Crypto, but who can first integrate trading, banking services, and on-chain assets into a complete financial system.
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