Wells Fargo is discussing a potential partnership with Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, under which Payward would provide liquidity for digital-asset trading, according to two people familiar with the matter cited by CoinDesk.
The talks are still ongoing and may not produce an agreement. The people spoke anonymously because the discussions are private. Payward and Wells Fargo declined to comment.
Potential role for Payward
The proposed arrangement would make Payward a crypto liquidity provider for Wells Fargo. In practical terms, that could involve helping the bank access trading venues and execute orders in digital assets without having to build every part of the required market infrastructure itself.
Liquidity is the ability to buy or sell an asset in sufficient size without causing a significant price change. Crypto exchanges and related platforms can provide banks and institutional investors with access to trading markets, pricing and order execution. Their infrastructure may allow financial institutions to offer digital-asset services while relying on an established specialist for parts of the trading process.
Payward operates Kraken and has built businesses covering spot crypto, derivatives, tokenized equities, custody, staking, payments and traditional securities. Its Payward Services division provides financial infrastructure to banks, fintech companies, brokerages and payment firms. Kraken also offers technology that can allow banks to integrate crypto trading into their own platforms.
The potential Wells Fargo relationship would therefore be broader than a simple exchange connection: it would place a major U.S. bank in talks with a crypto-native company for a function that supports institutional trading.
Wells Fargo’s expanding digital-asset activity
The discussions add to Wells Fargo’s existing involvement in digital assets. The bank already makes spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds available to eligible wealth-management clients. It has also backed Elliptic, a crypto compliance company, and Talos, which provides trading technology.
Wells Fargo has announced plans involving blockchain-based deposits and joined a consortium working on a dollar stablecoin. Stablecoins are digital tokens designed to maintain a stable value, commonly by being linked to a fiat currency such as the U.S. dollar. Their use in payments and settlements has made them an important connection between crypto markets and traditional financial services.
The California-based bank strengthened its digital-assets team earlier this year by hiring Mark Gracia, a former Citi banker. It was also Nasdaq’s exclusive capital-markets adviser when the exchange operator agreed in September to invest $100 million in Payward and expand cooperation on tokenized equities and market surveillance.
That earlier transaction creates an existing connection among Wells Fargo, Nasdaq and Payward, although the proposed liquidity arrangement is a separate matter. The Nasdaq investment is intended to deepen the exchange operator’s collaboration with Payward in areas including tokenized stocks and oversight of markets.
Broader banking ties for crypto firms
The talks reflect the growing effort by major banks to work with established digital-asset companies as financial institutions develop crypto-related products. Crypto exchanges can serve as gateways to market liquidity, while specialist providers can supply technology and operational capabilities that banks might otherwise need to develop internally.
The shift is taking place against a more accommodating U.S. regulatory backdrop during President Donald Trump’s administration, according to the source material. The GENIUS Act, signed by Trump in July 2025, created a federal framework for payment stablecoins and provided clearer rules for an area closely connected to both crypto markets and banking.
That environment contrasts with the difficulties crypto companies faced in obtaining banking services during the industry’s banking squeeze. Nathan McCauley, chief executive of Anchorage Digital, told the Senate Banking Committee in February 2025 that more than 40 banks had rejected the company’s requests for accounts, even though a subsidiary held a federal bank charter.
Payward is also separately discussing a broad financial-infrastructure partnership with BNY, according to CoinDesk’s earlier reporting. Those talks could include crypto products, custody, wealth management, trading and payments. No outcome has been reported for that potential partnership or the Wells Fargo discussions.
Market picture
Moneyiar market data at 09:04 on October 8, 2026, showed mixed performance among the listed assets:
- DeepBook Protocol (DEEP) was priced at $0.0215257701, down 2.67% over 24 hours and 6.49% over seven days.
- AKEDO (AKE) was priced at $0.0266915156, down 5.71% over 24 hours and 18.03% over seven days.
- Comedian (BAN) was priced at $0.0651375099, up 1.93% over 24 hours but down 2.81% over seven days.
- would (WOULD) was priced at $0.0351412837, up 0.33% over 24 hours and 10.6% over seven days; the supplied seven-day reading was dated September 22, 2026, at 21:04.
These prices describe the selected assets in the Moneyiar data and do not determine whether Wells Fargo and Payward ultimately reach an agreement.
