Kraken Buys Reap to Compete with Airwallex
Why Kraken acquired Reap for $600M
Kraken is moving from being a place where crypto gets traded to being a place where businesses move money. Reap gives Kraken the card issuing, payment orchestration, and business workflow layer that Airwallex already sells to global companies. The difference is that Kraken starts with exchange liquidity and stablecoin rails, while Airwallex starts with bank accounts, FX conversion, and local payment connectivity across countries.
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Airwallex already serves the exact workflow Kraken now wants, helping businesses hold balances, convert currencies, issue employee cards, reimburse spend, and send cross border payouts. Cards and payments now drive over 50% of Airwallex gross profit, showing this is not just a transfer product, it is operating software for global finance teams.
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Kraken’s advantage is that its exchange can act like the liquidity engine underneath the product. Kraken has been explicit that stablecoin payments need deep on and off ramp liquidity, and that the exchange is the base layer for apps built on top. Reap turns that thesis into a concrete B2B product surface in Asia, where stablecoin usage is already strong for business money movement.
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The two stacks make money differently. Airwallex earns on FX spreads, payment processing, software, and card economics across fiat rails. Kraken can bundle those same business workflows with stablecoin settlement, card interchange, and exchange driven conversion between fiat and USDC or USDT, which can lower cost and speed up cross border flows for customers moving money frequently.
Going forward, the battleground is becoming the business account for globally active fintechs and SMB platforms. If Kraken can hide the crypto complexity behind cards, payouts, treasury, and conversion workflows, it can pull volume away from FX first providers like Airwallex and turn stablecoin liquidity into a durable payments business, especially across Asia and other high friction cross border markets.