Ireland · Payments & e-money
Payward Ireland Limited
Trading asKraken
Payward Ireland Limited is an Irish private limited company based in Dublin. It trades as Kraken. The Central Bank of Ireland has authorised it since 25 September 2023 as an electronic money institution under the European Communities (Electronic Money) Regulations 2011, reference C453020. It belongs to the group headed by Payward, Inc. of the United States. It provides the fiat e-money wallet, cash funding and credit transfer services behind Kraken in the EEA, while sister companies provide crypto-asset and derivatives services.
Licences and registrations
Held by Payward Ireland Limited (LEI 2549004T4TVIRHZ3VY61). 1 entry on 1 of the 22 tracked registers, retrieved 25 September 2026.
| Register | Licence | Number | Jurisdiction | Status | Registered | Ends | Activities | Register entry |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EBA PSD2 RegisterCentral Bank of Ireland | Electronic money institutionE-Money / Stored Value Institution | C453020 | Ireland | Active | 2023-09-25 | — |
|
Search the register ↗ |
Trading names on the register: Kraken (EBA-PSD2)
- Each licence applies in the country of the regulator that granted it.
- Registers are tracked in 37 countries. Licences granted elsewhere are not recorded here.
Swift network
Swift’s ISO 9362 BIC directory
Holds no BIC in Swift’s directory.
Its LEI is not mapped to a BIC in the Swift and GLEIF BIC-to-LEI relationship file.
Overview
Researched 29 Sep 2026 · Sources
Employees
Not published
Ownership
Group subsidiary
Firm type
E-money and accounts
Trades as Kraken
- Ownership
- The firm belongs to the Kraken group, whose parent company is Payward, Inc. The direct shareholder is not named in the sources reviewed.
- Ultimate owner
- Payward, Inc., United States
- Head office
- 70 Sir John Rogerson's Quay, Dublin Docklands, D02 R296 Dublin 2, Ireland
- Company register
- Companies Registration Office (Ireland) 688569
Online
- Websites & references
- kraken.com ↗
support.kraken.com ↗ help centre with licensing and safeguarding disclosures
krak.app ↗ Krak payments app site (group brand, used for card management)
eu.kraken.com ↗ EU risk disclosure site (group)
Wikipedia ↗ group article - Official social accounts
- LinkedIn ↗ · X ↗ · Facebook ↗ · Instagram ↗ · YouTube ↗ · TikTok ↗ · Reddit ↗
Sources · 15 pages consulted
- registers.centralbank.ie/FirmRegisterDataPage.aspx?firmReferenceNumber=C453020®ister=63
- lb.lt/en/sfi-financial-market-participants/payward-ireland-limited-t-a-kraken
- kraken.com/legal/eea-terms
- kraken.com/legal/disclosures
- support.kraken.com/articles/where-is-kraken-licensed-or-regulated
- support.kraken.com/articles/safeguarding-of-funds-for-eea-uk-clients
- support.kraken.com/hc/en-us/articles/13276513124500-Recent-changes-to-funding-for-EEA-clients-
- kraken.com/europe-switch
- blog.kraken.com/product/kraken-card/introducing-the-kraken-card
- businesswire.com/news/home/20250625529871/en/Kraken-Secures-MiCA-License-from-Central-Bank-of-Ireland-Ceme
- businesswire.com/news/home/20241030235650/en/Kraken-Appoints-Arjun-Sethi-as-Co-CEO-to-Accelerate-Company-M
- coindesk.com/business/2026/09/02/kraken-parent-payward-pushes-ipo-back-to-mid-2027-at-earliest
- coindesk.com/business/2026/05/08/kraken-parent-payward-seeks-fresh-funding-at-usd20-billion-valuation-
- coindesk.com/business/2026/04/13/crypto-exchange-kraken-targeted-in-extortion-attempt-but-says-there-w
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kraken_(cryptocurrency_exchange)
Authorisation
Researched 29 Sep 2026 · Sources
- Operates under
- Its own licences
The Central Bank of Ireland authorises the firm as an electronic money institution under the European Communities (Electronic Money) Regulations 2011, reference C453020. It provides services in 29 other EEA states under the freedom to provide services.
| Authority | Licence or registration | Number | Held | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Central Bank of Ireland Ireland | Electronic Money Institution (authorised under Regulation 9 of the European Communities (Electronic Money) Regulations 2011) | C453020 | In its own name | Active | registers.centralbank.ie ↗ |
Licences and registrations the research found, at home and abroad, as the firm and its regulators publish them. The Licences and registrations card shows the entries on the registers the directory tracks.
Partners and safeguarding
Researched 29 Sep 2026 · Sources
- Safeguarding
- Segregated safeguarding accountsThe firm states that funds it receives for issuing e-money or executing payments are kept separate from its other funds and used only for those purposes. It names no safeguarding bank.
- Card issuer
- UAB Monavate Lithuania
- Payment schemes and card networks
- Mastercard Through a partner blog.kraken.com ↗
Banks and regulated firms the firm says hold its customers’ money, issue its cards, sponsor its accounts or settle its payments, as it discloses them in its terms and notices.
Products and markets
Researched 29 Sep 2026 · Sources
It issues the fiat e-money wallet that Kraken clients in the EEA use to fund crypto purchases, make credit transfers and back the Kraken and Krak debit cards. UAB Monavate issues those cards.
It serves clients across the EEA under its Irish licence. The Central Bank of Ireland register lists freedom-of-services notifications for 29 other EEA states.
- Sells to
- Consumers · Enterprises
- Serves customers in 30 countries
- Ireland · Austria · Belgium · Bulgaria · Croatia · Cyprus · Czechia · Denmark · Estonia · Finland · France · Germany · Greece · Hungary · Iceland · Italy · Latvia · Liechtenstein · Lithuania · Luxembourg · Malta · Netherlands · Norway · Poland · Portugal · Romania · Slovakia · Slovenia · Spain · Sweden
Recent events 1 enforcement or investigation item
Researched 29 Sep 2026 · Sources
-
Other
Payward, Inc., the group parent, reportedly delayed its planned US initial public offering to the second quarter of 2027 at the earliest.
coindesk.com ↗ -
Merger / acquisition
Payward, the group parent, completed its acquisition of Reap Technologies Holdings Limited, a stablecoin card-issuing and payments company.
businesswire.com ↗ -
Security incident
Kraken disclosed two insider access incidents at group level that potentially exposed support data for about 2,000 client accounts. It said no funds were at risk.
coindesk.com ↗ -
Funding
Payward, the group parent, raised USD 800 million at a reported USD 20 billion valuation.
coindesk.com ↗ -
Licence
The Central Bank of Ireland granted Kraken a MiCA crypto-asset service provider licence, held by sister company Payward Europe Solutions Limited.
businesswire.com ↗ -
Licence
The Central Bank of Ireland authorised the firm as an electronic money institution on 25 September 2023.
registers.centralbank.ie ↗
Compliance-relevant events of the last three years, newest first: fines and enforcement, investigations, security incidents, licence changes, funding rounds, acquisitions and leadership changes. Each links to its source.
Identifiers
- Licence no. · EBA-PSD2
- C453020
- BIC
- Holds no BIC in Swift’s directory
- How the LEI was matched
- Matched by Elucidate to GLEIF on name, country and address
- Elucidate firm ID
- d3c836aedd4f
Profile
- Type
- Payments & e-moneyPayment institutions, e-money and stored-value issuers, and account-information providers. Licensed under payment-services law (e.g. PSD2 in the EU and UK, the Payment Services Act in Singapore). Taken from the licences on the tracked registers.
- Regulation
- Prudential licenceAuthorised with capital, safeguarding and conduct requirements, e.g. an authorised payment or e-money institution in the EU or UK, a major payment institution in Singapore, or a MiCA crypto-asset service provider.
- Main licence class
- E-Money / Stored Value Institution
- Activities
- Payment services
- E-money / stored value
- Licensed in
- Ireland · Europe & Central Asia
- First registered
- 2023-09-25
Types come from Swift’s BIC classification, the licences on the 22 tracked registers, and the ECB and FSB bank lists. Most banks outside the euro area appear as financial institutions, because their supervisors’ registers are not tracked yet.
Ownership and group
GLEIF relationship records
GLEIF’s relationship records name no parent for this LEI, and no group page is published for it.
Addresses
- Address on the register
- 70 Sir John Rogerson's Quay, Dublin, Not Available
- Country
- Ireland
ISO 20022 identification
As an agent in a Swift cross-border payment message (CBPR+)
This institution holds no BIC. A CBPR+ message identifies it by name and postal address, and may add its LEI or a clearing code.
- Identified by
- Name and postal address, with its LEI
- Postal address
- Hybrid: town, postcode and country in their own elements, the rest in one address line
<FinInstnId>
<LEI>2549004T4TVIRHZ3VY61</LEI>
<Nm>Payward Ireland Limited</Nm>
<PstlAdr>
<PstCd>Not Available</PstCd>
<TwnNm>Dublin</TwnNm>
<Ctry>IE</Ctry>
<AdrLine>70 Sir John Rogerson's Quay</AdrLine>
</PstlAdr>
</FinInstnId>CBPR+ identifies the instructing and instructed agents by BIC only. An institution without a BIC can be the debtor, creditor or an intermediary agent.
The values are as published by the register. Check them against your own records before use.
Sources & method
Register entries come from the public registers of financial regulators, standardised into one taxonomy. LEIs are matched through GLEIF, and a BIC is linked only through a shared LEI.
An institution missing from these registers is not necessarily unregulated.
Register entries are not matched against the OFAC or EU sanctions lists. Where the legal entity also holds a BIC, the matches for that BIC are on its page. Always screen against the official lists.
An institution is one entry in the directory: a BIC8 in Swift’s directory, or a firm on a tracked register that holds no BIC. Licences held by an institution with a BIC are shown on its page.
Read the methodology →Register for this page
- EBA PSD2 Register—European Banking Authority (EBA) · source ↗ as at 25 September 2026
- Overview, authorisation, partners, products, leadership and events—researched per institution by an AI model with web search, from the firm's own website, terms and filings, regulators' registers and notices, company registers and news. Licences, partners, figures, people and events link to their source, and each card shows the research date. AI research can be wrong or out of date, so check key facts at the source.
Assess the financial crime risk behind a licence
A licence records what an institution is authorised to do; it does not assess it. The Elucidate FinCrime Index (EFI) is an independent score of the financial crime risk of banks and payment institutions.
Book a demo