Kraken announced Wednesday that its banking subsidiary Kraken Financial has been granted a Federal Reserve master account – the first time a digital asset-focused bank has secured direct access to the US central bank’s payment infrastructure.

The approval allows Kraken Financial, a Wyoming-chartered Special Purpose Depository Institution (SPDI), to connect directly to Fedwire and other core US payment rails. In practice, this means the exchange can now settle dollar transactions through the Federal Reserve system without routing them through a correspondent bank.

“This milestone marks the convergence of crypto infrastructure and sovereign financial rails,” said Arjun Sethi, co-CEO of Payward, Kraken’s parent company. “With a…