Kraken directly connects to the Federal Reserve account Okx is also invested by the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange Perpetual contracts are about to land in the United States Kraken Financial (Kraken's Wyoming chartered banking subsidiary) officially became the first digital asset bank in US history to directly access the Federal Reserve's core payment infrastructure on March 4, 2026. The Federal Reserve Master Account allows holders to directly participate in the Fedwire Funds Service, the core real-time gross settlement (RTGS) network of the US payment system, which processes trillions of dollars in interbank fund transfers on a daily basis. Traditionally, only deposit taking institutions or specific qualified entities insured by FDIC can obtain full master account privileges, and cryptocurrency related institutions have had their applications rejected multiple times (such as the long-standing lawsuit against Custodia Bank). Kraken Financial can directly hold reserves on the Federal Reserve's books and settle US dollars without relying on correspondent banks or third-party intermediaries, thereby significantly reducing settlement delays, reducing intermediary fees, and improving predictability. For institutions and high net worth clients, on/off rate large dollar deposits and withdrawals will achieve near real-time Fedwire settlement, significantly compressing traditional clearing cycles of T+1 or longer, and reducing operational risk and costs. This will directly enhance Kraken's institutional service competitiveness and indirectly improve the overall liquidity of the platform - for retail investors, it means lower slippage, tighter spreads, and a more stable deposit and withdrawal experience during high volatility periods. In the past few years, the Federal Reserve has been highly cautious about account access for non insurance deposit taking institutions, including Wyoming SPDI. After five years of continuous regulatory interaction, comprehensive review, and compliance transformation, Kraken has been approved, which is equivalent to the Federal Reserve opening a limited channel for cryptocurrency native institutions for the first time before the implementation of the "Payment Account" Request for Comments (RFI) framework at the end of 2025. This is not only Kraken's individual victory, but also a landmark precedent for the entire industry to transition from "peripheral participants" to "regulated directly connected entities", proving that encrypted banks can be included in the national payment main road under the premise of strengthening risk control. Other compliant cryptocurrency institutions, such as potential stablecoin issuers and custody platforms, will have more incentive to apply for similar accounts, forming positive competition. The integration of US dollar stablecoins, on chain payments, and traditional rail transit will accelerate, promoting the seamless infrastructure construction of "crypto x fiat". The long-term problem of "banking dependence" (debt risk) that has plagued institutions has been partially alleviated, which is expected to attract more traditional funds to flow into the cryptocurrency market. Kraken's acquisition of the Federal Reserve's main account is not simply a banking license upgrade, but rather the first official "direct ticket" for the cryptocurrency industry to the payment artery of the US central bank, marking the controllable integration starting point of digital assets from edge experiments to mainstream financial infrastructure. This historic precedent will provide the strongest structural support for the institutionalization, compliance, and maturity of the cryptocurrency market in the coming years. For retail investors who hold and trade for the long term, it means that the overall resilience and liquidity of the market will usher in a new round of qualitative improvement.