Kraken Launches Bitcoin Rewards Debit Mastercard Ahead of Planned IPO

Kraken is rolling out a Bitcoin rewards debit card powered by the Mastercard network to its European Union and UK-based users, the firm announced on Tuesday. 

The Krak Card, which takes its name from the crypto exchange’s peer-to-peer payments app Krak, will offer 1% cash back on every purchase, payable in Bitcoin or the user’s local fiat currency. 

The card connects to a user’s everyday spending balance inside the Krak app, allowing them to pay globally using any of the more than 400+ supported assets at merchants that accept Mastercard.

“To us, everything is money. You should be able to use whatever assets you hold to pay for everyday goods and services in the digital era we live in,” said Kraken Global Head of Consumer Mark Greenberg, in a statement. “From groceries to getaways, the Krak Card makes value move freely, no matter who you are or how you choose to store your money.”

While users can set a spend order, detailing which currencies they wish to spend first, Krak will automatically merge as many as necessary in order to complete a transaction. 

For example, users that don’t have enough Bitcoin to cover a transaction can pull from balances of Solana or Ethereum to complete it. In other words, if a person tries to buy a $100 item but only has $75 worth of Bitcoin, the additional $25 can be spent using their Solana balance inside the Krak app.

While the card does not come with any monthly or annual fees, a spread fee is applied when assets must be sold to complete a transaction, according to a support FAQ on the firm’s website. 

The Krak Card is expected to be rolled out to additional geographies in the coming weeks. Longer-term, the firm aims to add additional card options, enhanced rewards, and credit products.

“While this launch is UK and EU-specific, we have ambitions to rapidly expand this offering to U.S. Krak users, and also add more additional features that make the offering even more compelling,” a representative for Kraken told Decrypt.

Kraken debuted the Krak App in June as a competitor to popular peer-to-peer payments options like Venmo and Cash App. The firm says the app has been downloaded more than 450,000 times across over 130 countries. 

The Bitcoin rewards card launch comes just a week after the firm announced it had confidentially filed an S-1 form in a bid to go public. It has not yet determined how many shares or at what price it aims to IPO.

Last week, the company also announced that it raised $800 million, giving it a valuation of $20 billion ahead of its public launch.

This year, Kraken’s peers, like Coinbase and Gemini, have both amplified their own Bitcoin rewards products. The pair both maintain Bitcoin reward credit card products with cash back rates extending up to 4%.