Kraken Unveils Cashback Debit Card in Bid for Consumer Wallets

Kraken, one of the world's largest crypto exchanges, has launched a cashback debit card called the Krak Card. The app, issued by an affiliate money app of the same name, offers up to 2% cash or Bitcoin back on purchases.

The card allows customers to spend directly from more than 600 currencies and crypto assets, automatically converting balances into dollars at the point of purchase. Users can set the order in which their assets are spent and have the option to split a single purchase across multiple balances.

Kraken is competing with other fintech apps, including Block's CashApp, PayPal's Venmo, SoFi, Robinhood, and Chime, as crypto evolves from an asset class into infrastructure for mainstream financial products. The company is likely interested in retaining deposits, driving spending, and keeping customer assets on its platform.

According to a national survey of over 2,000 U.S. adults commissioned by Krak, 63% of Americans feel financially behind, while 60% would switch to a debit card that offers meaningful rewards without requiring debt. The company's Co-CEO, Arjun Sethi, stated that the financial system has run on a 'quiet subsidy' for decades, where ordinary people's deposits and fees fund returns, but those returns rarely flow back to them.